Games For Two
by DT.Cecil
Summary: Rock was sure the only thing he wanted to do was; shower, drink and sleep after what he could only describe as one of the shittest days. Curveballs are common here and though he was used to them, he was not expecting this one. Revy hated this feeling, hated him...didn't she? Things were not the way they used to be and she knew no other way to settle it but with her cutlass.
1. Chapter 1

**I only own this fanfiction. Disclaimed provided.**

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Rock...

What the hell is this?

After one of the shittiest days in Roanapurr he's ever experienced, and that was saying something; ever since he was taken to this place, he couldn't recall not having a shitty day, he finally made it back to his cheap hotel room. The place was small, cramped but at least it was clean with its own bathroom and a mini-fridge to keep his liquor cold. That's all he's craved after he started working at the Lagoon Company as a 'Delivery Boy'; hard liquor in any form and cigarettes.

"Another day, another gunfight."

He had long accepted his lot, determined to follow this demon road as it leads to the gates of hell. There was no stopping it- _then why the hell am I complaining?_

Rock ran his hand over his tired face then felt in his pocket for the key to his room. Turning the key once and again, he waited a few seconds before turning it a third time, a little extra insurance against the thriving thieves around the area. Opening the door then locking it, Rock headed straight to his bathroom. The water in the shower was fickle. At times, he would have warm water, at times freezing cold and then scalding hot. As he stripped, pissed then stepped into the shower stall and turn on the water, scalding hot water blasted him but instead of recoiling like he usually did, Rock welcomed the burning assault against his chest, letting his body adjust-reddening his skin. Rock looked down the length of his body, he worked out, had to with the demand of his job- never know when you'll need to run for your life and all that! His chest and stomach were sculpted and there was some muscle definition in his arms. Did he need to be buffed up? No.

"Then why am I thinking about this? Why am I having a pity party for myself? That can't be good."

When he was all but cooked, Rock turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. The steam had fogged up the bathroom mirror, effectively hiding his reflection.

 _Good_. He thought.

He didn't need to see himself right now anyway. Maybe he should just have a pity party for himself. Grabbing a folded towel off the counter, he wrapped it around his waist then walked back into his bedroom. Revy had gotten this place for him. At that thought, his lips curled up a little then it faltered. The last time they were on better terms was before that Maid showed up again, three months ago. Deliveries ran as they should but the extra tension is something he didn't need. Ignoring it was not working. Revy and 'ignore' can never be in the same sentence successfully. He groans out loud, the familiar frustration pooling in his gut making him itch for a drink. Still, in his towel, Rock bent over to open his mini-fridge to take a beer can out then froze at the sound of a click behind him.

Revy...

"You're so fucking dead," Revy said as she cocks the hammer of her gun and then pulls the trigger listening to the loud click rang out in the nearly empty room. She was sitting in a chair in the darkest corner of the room listening to Rock in the bathroom, questions bubbling in her head. Why the hell did I follow him home? Am I a mutt or something? Who takes a shower so long? In here is so clean, it's pissing me off since my room looks like a dump, when does he get to do all of this?

"Killed by my own gun no less," Rock replied dryly and her heart did something funny in her chest. _Damn him._ She used to believe that she was his gun and him, her bullet. Now... _I don't know what to think._

Slowly, Rock turned to face her, his chest red from his hot shower, water traced down taut skin, flat nipples, cut abs and... She raised a brow when she spied a hinted outline of his-

"What do I owe this visit, Ms. Rebeeca Lee?" Rock asked taking a gulp from his beer can. The room smelled like cigarette smoke and soap and Rock. The place smelled like him.

"What did you just call me?" Revy tone was low, a warning that the shit was getting closer to the fan.

"It's your name, isn't it?"

Was he retarded or just blatantly trying to pick a fight with her. She was Revy. Rebecca Lee died a long time ago, she couldn't survive in this world of shit, so Revy put a bullet through her brain then took her corpse.

"Don't call me that." She said standing up from her chair and taking a step towards him, violence pulsating from her.

"Or what? You're going to kill me or just beat me up again?"

"I'm thinking about it." She answered cryptically.

Rock put his beer down on the top of the fridge, one hand on his hip, the other scrubbed over his face. "What the hell is this?" He let his hand drop with a soft "clap" on the top of his thigh.

"what is what?"

"This! Are you here to intimidate me or threaten me, belittle me? What? All day at work isn't enough for you?!"

"You're getting pissed and I'm the one who's wronged here?" Revy all but screamed at him.

"Because I tried to relate to you? Back on the boat during that Maid incident, I was trying to be someone required for the situation. You're the one always berating my softness, my ideology and now...you avoid me, hurt me physically at every turn and here, in my...place, you're."

He threw his hands up in a fit of frustration, the motion loosen the towel around his waist causing it to fall to his feet.


	2. Chapter 2

**As you should know by now, I only own this fanfiction. Disclaimed provided.**

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Rock...

"Fuck!" He cursed under his breath then kicked the towel that formed a ring at his feet in the general direction of the bathroom. He knew that he should be embarrassed that he was naked in front of Revy but he was too pissed off to feel any embarrassment.

"Rocky baby," She purred then grinned as she looked slowly from his toes up to his face and then the opposite way down, her eyes expressing surprise and interest as she pinched her bottom lip between her teeth which infuriated him more. She didn't want him. She didn't know how to express herself any other way for long periods without violence and that's not just him being judgemental, it was a pattern with Revy.

"We're buddies." She'd told him once when she came to rescue him from that demilitarized zone and as far as he knew Revy had not been in a relationship of any kind before or after he's been here. He sure as hell wasn't going to be _that guy_ that deluded himself in thinking that a woman wants him because his junk is exposed. He wasn't dripping with sexuality or a nymphomaniac by **_any_** stretch of the imagination.

Rock pinched his forehead exhaustedly then exhaled. "Revy, why are you here? Is there some sort of last-minute errand Dutch wanted me to run or is this about a job? He attempted to walk past her to his dresser drawer to take out his boxers. Revy stepped into his way, her hand still on her gun as she tapped the length of it against her thigh. Short denim cut off shorts and a crop top that barely contained her generous assets, she was the sexiest woman he's ever seen and one of the most dangerous.

"What are you doing?" Rock asked, his face impassive as he looked down on her. She stepped closer to him. Never looking away, she let the cold metal of her gun trail up his inner thigh, traveling the length of his member then rubbing it against his balls, back and forth, back and forth. He trembled a little at the contact, his skin goosebumped all over. Whether that was out of pleasure or trepidation, he didn't know for sure but he never looked away from her; a shaky breath escaping his lips. For as much as he trusts her to watch his back when they were out on the field, Revy mood swings when it came to anyone changes faster than the weather. One minute it's warm and sunny, the next it's a "What the fuck?" situation.

"Didn't know you Japs were packing anything this big?" Revy licked her bottom lip then her other hand grabbed his shaft hard, tugging a couple of time making him grunt in pain.

"Stop it!" He tried to push her hand away but she just squeezed him in her palm.

"What? You don't want me because I'm not some Japanese school girl? What Rock? Am I not good enough for you? Too much of a bitch for you?" She released him then shoved at his chest, pushing him back a couple of steps.

Rock exhaled, the crown of his member redden a little from the blood that collected there while he was in her grip. Enunciating the words, he looked her straight in the eye, shoulders back and said, "If by _BITCH_ you mean that you're Brave, Independent, Tenacious, A _Challenge_ and Honest? Then yes, Rebecca, you're **One Big** **Bitch."**

Revy **...**

What the hell? Revy thought, her heart rate ratching up a bit. That's not how it should be, right? You put a gun to a guy's balls he squeals like a pig. _That's what they are, fuckin' pigs. They don't compliment you_. Then why did Rock just do that? Turn her words against her.

 _He made me feel. Again!_

Here he was, completely defenseless and she was the one getting bent out of shape? What kind of a sick joke is this? She was the one with the gun, she's the one with the ever-growing body count under her name-Revy and she didn't need to be reminded of who she was. _He didn't understand, he couldn't fucking understand the fucked up hell my life as Rebecca was like._

In the same instant, the memory of that horrible night surface from the blood box deep inside of her. The smell of coffee and donuts, the combined pressure of her weight and that rapist cop on her hand-cuff wrists, the cold tiles of the bathroom floor; she remembered the smell of piss, her helpless threats, and the pain as he forced his way into her body.

Before she could get control, her fist shot out towards the default target standing before her, his face blurry from her unshed tears; could be that cop, could be someone else that tried to get her that she's put in the ground. Rock captured her hand in his and in one step, wrestled her gun from her hand, where it fell to the floor with a thud then a clatter as he kicked it away from them, he then wrapped his other arm around her pinning her to his chest. He positioned himself between her legs so she couldn't knee him in the crotch.

God, _he's_ _strong and quick_. Not just anybody could overpower her, for him to be able to..., _what will he do to me then, now that he's put me in this position?_ Her other arm was pinned under his own. Panic gripped her, her breaths shallowed and she started to shove against his body. Screaming, "Get off me!"

Unable to fight back, she did the only thing she could do, she bites down hard on the nearest place to her mouth, his nipple. Blood beaded on her tongue, rustic salty iron taste.

"You will always want to hurt me, won't you Revy?" Rock said softly, "Even though I will never intentionally hurt you." He evinces no sign of pain just soft words to her anger. Defenselessness and naked to her assault. "I don't want you because you will never want me long enough to understand me or allow me to understand you. You can't trust me enough to be anything but abusive to me and I've had so much of that already in my life," His eyes bore in hers as if he was looking beyond what was on the surface, like he opened her blood box and got a good look around down there even as she continued bitting him, and she felt like she was the one exposed, her emotional scars raw before his eyes. "Maybe they're not the same as yours, not as sharp as your pain but knives have been plunged into me too and they've mounted over the years. I'm sorry but don't need that in a relationship." He said solemnly.

"'Uck ou!" She told him, still bitting.


	3. Chapter 3

Rock...

Back at the office.

Rock gritted his teeth as the soft cotton of his undershirt rubbed his left nipple. He'd put a plaster band-aid over but it came off sometime during his toils today and typical Roanapurr sultry weather; the sweat from his skin undoing the adhesive. The material caresses the bite mark again, rubbing the teeth outline there.

 _Ow! That really hurts._ He thought, his face betraying a hint of a wince.

He couldn't believe that she bit him, like some rabid animal.

He's had to deal with bullies before; his ex-boss(es), his schoolmates, etc and everytime he had gotten beat up. Once it had gotten so bad that he ended up in the hospital for three weeks and his older brother, who usually didn't even notice that he existed as much as his parents did, made him go to Judo classes and any other self-defense classes they could put him in, but he hated going to them as well. Violence was violence no matter how they tried to spin it. And he hated violence. He did...right?

Then why did he work in a time bomb-company with people who are not shy about killing and firing guns in the blink of an eye, in a war zone country?

 _Why am I so interested in a woman who was not just violent, she radiated it palpably?_

His mind went back to the first time he noticed this crazy need to think about Revy and exhaled a breath. Thankfully she was out working with Dutch today running errands. He hadn't seen her since she left his hotel room two nights ago.

After she'd let go of his skin, she'd swang a fist at him, a kick and attempted to grab him (again) all to no avail. He'd dodged and deflected her assaults, even while naked, he was able to pin her down on his bed- capturing both of her hands in one of his and pinning them over her head. Her ass to his cock, him between her legs; applying just enough pressure to the back of her thighs with his knees to hold her steady. The forearm of his other hand pressed down on the back of her neck; across her shoulder blades. She'd railed, flailing under him so much that he became worried that she might hurt herself in his grip given the fact that just a few weeks ago, she was shot in both arms by Balalaika's men.

"Stop it!" he'd urged trying not to think about the blissful friction her struggling was causing on his member, the material of her shorts was rubbing in the right way against the crown of his cock and so help him, he was getting hard against her. She must have felt it too because she got even more upset.

"Get off me, you fucking bastard, you're so fucking dead when I get up from here."

More struggling. More curses but still he held her down, his muscles bulge up as he increased the pressure on his hold just a little more when he felt her slipping through his grip. So strong even when she was recovering from an injury. That was Revy. He would have to hold on to her until she will hear reason-ish.

"I swear Rock if you...fucking try anything with me you're a fucking dead man, you hear me!" She was breathing faster and not just from swinging at him. Hyperventilating? Was that panic in her voice?

He recognized the tone from moments when he had been panicking, all those times when he had been cornered. The moment when he found out that his boss had tossed him to the fucking wolves to protect his company image or when his parents turned their backs on him because they didn't see him as someone worthy of their resources. **Used** then discarded like trash. **Hurt **because someone had the power to hurt him and he was helpless to stop it.

Revy inhaled a shaky breath, closer to a sob than an inhalation; clearly not happy with being in this position. Her eyes burning a hole in his head from her sideways head position. The look in her eyes, Revy was...afraid...of him?

 _No. That can't be ri...oh my god, she thinks that I would...?_

"It's a physical reaction," Rock tried to assure her, feeling his cheeks heat up in anger. "It means nothing, just stop struggling, it makes it worse."

"And I'm supposed to believe that, Rock? You have me pinned and you're getting hard and you don't want to _**do** _me? What am I, stupid? You probably think because I don't have my guns, you can fuck me now? What? You didn't have the balls before? You fucking coward! All of you men are the same. Once you can overpower a woman, you want to stick your dicks in."

Rock looked at her and suddenly he understood more at that moment than he had for the past year they've been working together. That little story she told him while they were in the sunken sub, it wasn't complete, was it? As a businessman, it's his job to know people and if there was one thing he's learned, it was that people always talked about their pain in some fashion or another.

When she had screamed as she beat him up in the boat, "You don't know anything about me!" She was right but he's starting to get the picture and Jesus Christ, it's an ugly one.

"Rebecca, I know you don't believe me right now but I would **_never_** , **_ever_** , hurt you. Ever! And the only reason why I have you pinned down is that you're trying to hurt me and I'm _not_ going to take your abuse any longer because you can dish it."

After a few more seconds, Rock pushed up from her quickly, breaking his hold and backed up a few steps, preparing to go another round with her. But to his surprise, all she did was collect her gun and then walked out wordlessly, not bothering to close the door.

Rock signed now and smacked his forehead.

His thoughts were in turmoil so much that he had to put extra effort into concentrating on the accounting he was doing, something he routinely did for the company every month. A piece of cake at any other time yet today he couldn't get the numbers to balance and he's been over them at least twice already.

"Shit!" He cursed when he got inconsistency again with the total. Rising to his feet he decided to light up a cigarette and took in the nicotine to calm himself. To help him think logically.

 _I can't want her because she'll never want me. I can't feel pity for her because she'll hate me for it._

His hands clenched into fists as he put the pieces to the puzzle that was Rebecca Lee.

Revy exhibits violent traits because it seemed that from an early age, the people she was around -maybe her family, had been violent to her. Abusing her, possibly constantly. Someone, probably those cops she told him about had raped her. It only made sense. Revy had told him that they had beaten her for no reason at all. Beaten, meaning can't fight back and a girl as well? The sickos probably took her to some dirty secluded place far from the precinct to carry out their sick acts. And he says, 'girl' because according to everything he knows, Revy had been like this for a long time and she wasn't even twenty-five yet. He knew that she was in prison a while back, in state-care before that, so it must have happened before then. Cops-meaning more than one had participated in beating her, possibly more than one had raped her and watched as she was violated. Were they all laughing as she struggled? As she bled? Had they all mocked her efforts as she tried to get away from them?

At the thought, he took the nearest thing to his hand and threw it into the wall. Pieces scattered.

It was the calculator he was using and it was the only one in the office.

"Fuck!" He screamed then tunneled his fingers through his hair, grappling for calm.

"You ok there, Rock?" Benny asked, cautiously poking his head through the adjoining door from his mini work area where his equipment took up most of the space; his eyes on the ruined calculator, blond brows arched in a silent question.

"I'm fine."

"Uh-huh."

"I said I'm fine," Rock told him a little too harshly than he wanted to. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you."

"Hey, we all have off days, man," Benny said, looking at what was left of the poor accounting calculator and whistling low, before closing the door. "Take a break man, it will help."

Maybe Benny was right.

He sat on the couch for a few minutes deciding whether to go to the Yellow Flag for a drink or just go home. He looked from the stack of papers to the smashed calculator on the floor.

"Guess a little homework won't hurt." Unlike a powder keg that is the Yellow Flag Bar, he could drink his cold liquor in peace and not worry about bullet flying. He had a spear accounting calculator at home to get this done. Maybe it was this place and knowing that Revy could be back at any time since, well, she lived upstairs.

Sighing he got up from the couch, gathered up the papers and neatly putting them into a hardcover folder. On his way out, he told Benny that he was heading home early then left.


	4. Chapter 4

Revy...

 _That fucking outsider, what the hell did he know?_

She and Dutch had just completed a job off the coast and was returning to Roanapurr, ETA forty minutes. Normally, these kinds of boat rides were little nuggets of R&R for her ragged nerves but her thoughts were in chaos, so much so, that they almost drowned out the lulling roar of the engine and water as the Torpedo boat sliced easily through the current. From her vantage point on the deck, she could see everything that the South China Sea had to offer; an unbounded horizon, crystal blue waters, the smell of salty winds blowing in her face yet she couldn't appreciate any of it.

Earlier while she was in the galley, she felt like she was going to explode all over the place, frustration riding her to the point that she wanted to rip her hair out. It wasn't like the delivery wasn't a success. The shipment had been signed and paid for without a hitch and she even got a handsome bonus too.

She let out a huff. "Fucking fuck."

From behind his shades, Dutch looked over at her wordlessly, an analytical look on his face.

"What?" She growled at him.

He pursed his lips before saying, "I'm guessing that it's none of my business, whatever _It_ is,"

She'd fixed him with a withering glare, "And what do you know?"

"Nothing. You're just humming with so much tension, I can feel it from here."

With Dutch, she couldn't be sure about what he really knew or not. Deciding that she didn't want to be under his critical eyes for much longer, Revy went up on deck for air hoping to cool her head and the...uh...rest of her.

Leaning on the railing, she pulled out a cigarette pack from her pocket, the box was wrinkled but the contents were secured. Popping one in her mouth then flicking her lighter, she shields the flame from the enthusiastic winds and sea spray with her cupped palm as she burned the cigarette end, watching it glow red while she sucked in nicotine goodness then exhaled.

She waited for the calm to take over. And waited.

"Damn that fucking bastard!" She screamed, kicking the closest thing to her with her booted foot and it clanged in protest. How dare he do this to her? He'd made her feel things that she'd long believed that she was over, unable to process emotionally much more physical but he's re-introduced them to her somehow not once, not even twice.

 _I'd never, ever hurt you. Ever!_

Was she supposed to believe that?

Yeah, right. That's right up there with God was real and life's a box of fucking chocolates. Though she was never fully educated academically-her father used any welfare money they got from the state to buy boozes and porn mags- she was street savvy, looked at the world and people in the opposite way others living in safe bubbles could never fathom. There was no good in anyone. If someone can have power over you they'll use it to control and fuck you over. Insects crawling in the dirt never pick fights with big boots but the people wearing big boots always like to listen to the sound of crunching as they crush the life out of the helpless cock-roach unfortunate enough to be in their sights.

It's just the way it was.

 _I won't take your abuse any longer because you can dish it._

"The fuck you won't."

She could admit to herself that she was more than just a little sadistic and after that night with Rock, she really wanted to hurt him for what he's done to her. She was still trying to figure out why the hell she broke into his hotel room in the first place.

"That's what you get for looking for company," She chided to herself, "When will you learn, you're always better off on your own?"

This little victory Rock had over her was like an acid trip to her pride and if word got out, her reputation. But Rock wasn't the type to talk, she knew that and maybe that's the reason why she found herself picking the lock to his door. Still, it unsettled her that _Rock,_ even in her injured state _,_ was able to maneuver her like he did. She was completely immobile from that little stunt he pulled and what was more humiliating? He didn't act as she'd expected. He changed the status quo. Men, no matter what nice act they put on, always wanted to feel powerful over women. Her father had beaten her and her mother to make them feel powerless until the day her mother was no longer there and he had one less beating stick to wail on. Plus she'd seen the same cycle too many times to believe otherwise.

Then why didn't he take advantage? Again, this was grueling to think about. She always knew that men wanted her because she was sexy. Around Roanapurr, Revy was some kind of fantasy conquest for fuck-freaks to notch on their bedpost yet any man careless enough to put his hands on her just bought himself a one-way ticket to hell. Expressway, of course. Men were always either intrigued by powerful women or afraid of them. Personally, she preferred the latter.

In the case of Rock, she didn't know what to make of his behavior. Was he a queer or something? No, he didn't fit the type to her but you never know.

Sure, one time she thought that he was innocent, unchanged by the hell that is Roanapurr and this world of shit on a whole, with his ideals and talks of morality, and she wanted to preserve that to the point that she found herself _needing_ that light from him to see herself through her own darkness. But a few months ago in Japan, while Balaika had her gun to his head, she saw something in him then, something she didn't want to acknowledge but then it popped up again, three months ago, that same darkness within him that she had in herself and she hated it. The more she thought about it, the more she wanted to hurt him for...for failing and pretending that he was still the same person he was. The same person she wanted him to be.

Why was she in his hotel room two nights ago? "Because I'm tired of his bullshit. This...this pretense from him"

And yes, fucking _yes_ , she wanted to see the moment he fell into the pit, to see the moment when his goddamn mask cracks and shatters before her.

"Aaah! That fucking hypocrite!"

 _It would have been easy to keep me pinned as he rips down my shorts and..._

The thought threatened the horrors she barely kept at bay and she gave a hard shake of her head as if to pull herself back into reality, less she started putting holes in Dutch's ship. Fuck, she was angry and she had no outlet to wail on! No Rock here to punch in the face like he deserved to be.

When she slid down slowly to the floor of the deck, her back still against the rail she thought- _Fitting_. _That's always been my life._

Rock eluded to having something like that too but she couldn't relate because all she could feel was her pain and that burden has always been the one enemy she was still fighting. Still losing to.

She couldn't afford sentimentally in this world like Rock can but just like everyone else, even Rock wasn't like completely immune.

Why was she in his hotel room?

"Fess up Revy, you stupid cunt ." She confronted herself as she lit up another cigarette and sucked on it hard and long until her chest bowed before freeing the smoke through her nose.

Yet she dare not say the words out loud because that would mean that she was a fucking idiot and worse, that would make her the fucking idiot that got rejected.

Her realization had her bitting down on her cigarette butt,

"That little pussy, the next time I see him, I'm going to give him an eye shiner to match his stupid hair!"

.

.

.

.

.


	5. Chapter 5

Rock...

"You've **_got_ **to be kidding me."

Vandalized?

His nearly empty place looked like the thieves took stuff in from the garbage outside and dumped it all over his bed, the floor and in the bathroom. His mini-fridge was turned over and all the liquor in it stolen. The door was left wide open when he arrived and it looked closer to the truth that the front door was kicked in since the hinges were barely doing a good job holding it up. He had no way of knowing how long his place had been hit but thankfully, there was no one else here when he got home, no blood (that he could see) was on the surfaces either.

Culturally, he was used to taking his shoes off as soon as he closed the door behind him, now, he was forced to keep them on. Rock walked with caution as broken bottles with jagged sharp teeth laid scattered patiently on the floor as if they were waiting for him to make a misstep to breach his leather defenses. He didn't really have anything in here to be had but still, **this** was the cherry on top of a ' _fantastic'_ day. He reached into his pocket for his cigarette pack, flips it open then crumples the box in his fist.

Empty!

Was he expecting to be robbed (if this can be considered a robbery)? Well, he hadn't crossed it off his list of the 'things to experience while in Roanapurr'. Things like these are common but honestly, he was really looking forward to a nice quiet work evening. It might have been a crackhead that broke in looking for food he didn't keep and since he didn't have a stove to cook, he usually just did take out or grab a breakfast pack to eat on his way to the office.

Folder still tucked to his side, he was contemplating whether to look if the accounting calculator was still in here or with its new owner when he heard footsteps at the doorway. By this time, he was just coming from what was left of the bathroom and its fixtures.

There were four men and all were dressed in tailored suits, sunglasses, and black shoes so shiny they reflected light from the fading sun spilling through the one windowed-bedroom. Clearly moneyed;

 _Russians._

Their faces did a three-sixty around the room before landing on him.

In a thick Russian accent, the one in front asked slowly, " Mr. Rock?"

A hulking brute of more than six and a half feet tall with wide shoulders and legs like tree trunks. He dwarfed his companions who were all taller than Rock.

"Yes, it is," Rock answered, his tone calm and professional as always. He had to tilt his head back to meet the man's eyes.

"Kapitan requests your presence at the Hotel." With his hand gesturing towards the hallway in a sweeping motion the man continued in a courteous manner uncharacteristic for a person of his size, "If you please."

"Of course." Rock nodded curtly, though honestly, he didn't know why Ms. Balalika wanted to see him.

 _Not like I have a choice in the matter now anyway._

The 'Queen Of Roanapurr' didn't request anything. She demanded and she received.

On their way out, another of the men twirled his index finger towards the room, " Messy uninvited guests?" He asked, a suggestion of a smile on his face.

"Yeah, something like that," Rock answered absently, his mind turning over the possibilities of what this was all about.

 _I've changed my mind._ He thought, misery creeping into his veins like a disease, refusing to leave him be. _My day had not ended, it was just the beginning._

And all he could do now is steel himself for what's coming next.

 _ **Ten minutes later,** _

"Ah...Yaponskiye." Balalaika greeted in her signature smooth voice. By this time his escorts had already dismissed themselves after opening the double doors to her spacious office. Behind her, as usual, stood her second in command, Boris. Scarred-visage, silent and lethal, Rock didn't know anything much about him but he did know that anyone in this organization is willing at a moment's notice to laid down their lives for the woman before him. Now _that_ is power. Frightening power.

Every word from Balalaika's lips can either be a concoctive mix of charisma and business or danger and an order to end a life (lives) depending on the situation. She was sitting at her desk with a lone lamp breaking up the darken office shadows. In some corners, Rock could barely see anything. Though it looked as if it was just the three of them in the office, he could almost bet his life that that wasn't the case.

"Ms. Balalaika," Rock said in an even tone. "This is unexpected."

"I apologize for the inconvenience but I tried to reach you at the Lagoon Office by phone and was informed that you had retired for the day," Balalaika supplied as she moved from behind her desk. Each step was executed with panther grace before hopping up to sit atop it right in front of him; her short rose-pink skirt riding up her black stocking-covered legs, then higher still as she crossed them. Her body language radiated dominance, no mistaking the person in charge of the room and everything in it. Rock kept his head up and his eyes looking into hers.

In business, there were only four types of people;

Directs- (people who needed steady eye-contact, made big waves wherever they went - the bullshit spotters). Interactives- (the people persons with a need to make physical contact, socialities to the cure-the minglers). Steadies (are more reserved, they fade in the background easily enough- the researchers). Calculating -(everything is always controlled to a finite degree. From their appearance to their facial expressions. Every step is a process or procedure towards a goal-the B.P.P's A.K.A Best Poker Players)

Ms. Balalaika's personality make-up consisted of both the direct and calculating kind and Rock hoped he was mentally fit for this round, whatever it was.

"There're a few audio recordings that I want you to listen to," Balalaika said, clipping the head of her Russian cigar then taking a box of matches from behind her and striking it. "These are in several different languages,"

As she spoke, Boris appeared by his side putting a stack of tapes from one hand and a headphone and cassette player from the other on to the coffee table in front one of the plush settees then moving back to his place behind the desk as swiftly and softly as a ghost.

Rock move to sit on the settee to examine the tapes one by one. He quickly notices that some were labeled with names of recognized languages and some were marked unknown.

"Am I correct in assuming that the ones marked as unknown are the ones you want me to translate?"

"Partially," Balalaika informed him.

Rock furrowed his brows, a question on the tip of his tongue but Balalaika continued before he could voice it.

"I want the translations and transcripts for all of them. You'll be compensated for your time, of course"

By his count, there were twenty tapes in all laid out in front of him. Transcripts? Sure he knew how to write transcripts but he couldn't say that it was a favorite activity of his to do.

"And Rock I need them by tomorrow morning at eight sharp. Can it be done or not?"

Rock took in a breath then released it through his nose softly. _Great._ He didn't even bother asking if there was any other person they could ask to assist them because...well...why else would he be here if there were?

"How long are the recordings?"

"15-20 minutes," Balalaika informed, the scent of her cigar smoke floating in the air around them.

Rock nodded at that, calculating the time span of the tapes and hours left in today into tomorrow morning at eight. "Is there any possibility that any of the tapes can have more than one languages on them?" Rock asked the room because although he spoke and read several, like any activity that demanded mental focus, there was a limit to what he could put in and if he was in tuned to personalities as he thought he was, mistakes were not tolerated around here. Period. And Rock was almost mentally depleted with the day he's had so far.

He pushed that aside, another talent he's had to procure over the years. Learning to focus on the task in front of him now and rest later is a salary man's bread and butter.

"Will I be listening to recordings and doing the transcripts in here as well?" He asked.

"Of course not," Balalaika said, waving her hand in front of her face as if she were shooing a buzzing fly. "Preparations has already been made for your accommodations."

She snapped her fingers and double doors opened, revealing one of his escorts.

"Viktor will take you there,"

Rock gathered up the tapes and Viktor assisted him. They were halfway towards the door when Balalaika asked,

"Your hotel room was vandalized was it not Rock? Would you know the reason for this or who is responsible?"

Rock wasn't surprised that she found out but honestly, when?

"It might have been a crackhead." He replied, his voice betraying his fatigue a little. "But I am not sure who had done it?"

Why did her brows just arch?

"Even crackheads are afraid of Two-Hands," She said with a little smile on her lips.

"I honestly don't know why they would trash my place and it doesn't matter now anyway," Rock told her trying to keep from talking about Revy. He hated this feeling in his chest whenever his mind went back to her, a dull ache of frustration and hurt as if her pain had somehow transferred into him resurrecting his own that he's tried so hard to bury. He was usually good at suppressing things, pushing thoughts to the back of his mind and dealing with them how he saw fit or not at all. But again, he couldn't ignore Revy. He couldn't ignore Rebecca.

"Oh?" Balalaika said with interest. "Why is that?"

"I've been thinking about finding a new place for some time now," He lied confidently. Why should he move when he was in a convenient place, just a few minutes from his job, food was easy enough to get and over time, the people in the area had come to know him and him, to show them a side of himself appropriate for they're interactions.

"I see," Balalaika said.

"I'll get started on the tapes now." Was the last thing he said to Balalaika, effectively cutting all off talk and getting back to the business at hand. There will be no sleeping tonight and he didn't mind at all, since every time he closed his eyes in the last two nights, all he could see was Revy. To put it simply, he needs to stop thinking about her. That's the only way he will be able to stay alive.


	6. Chapter 6

Revy...

Revy pushed up on her arms from the floor of her bedroom for the fiftieth time. What had been simple before her injury, was now agony. But she was used to agony. Agony was just another type of pain and pain was a language she spoke well. The other things happening to her for the last forty-eight hours or so? Not so much. Her elbows bent again, her mind convinced that she could go another fifty but the trembling in her muscles belied her belief. Still, she gritted her teeth and began doing another set, hell-bent on distracting herself from what wouldn't go away. This feeling!

 _Note to self: Kick Rock's ass all over Roanapurr and back again._

This was new. She never had to pre-mediate anything when it came to hurting Rock before, her episodes just happen based on the next stupid thing he said or did but it felt good to imagine planting her foot so far up his narrow ass she wouldn't be able to see the top of her boot.

For the longest time, Revy had been frigid sexually with the exception happening a few days before and after her period when her hormones kicked into overdrive and she got so horny she swears she could feel a staccato rhythm down there. She'd once joked to herself; "I can take my fucking pulse from my crotch."

Ever since she left his hotel room she had been feeling like this and goddamnit, she was infuriated with Rock for it. Only infuriated.

Revy switched to one hand and her entire body quaked from the strain. She kept the count going in her head. Only by pushing herself to the breaking point will she get any sleep tonight. Exhaustion was the key until she could get a hold of her target and besides, this helped with getting her stronger, still.

She balanced on the three points of her body stretched out in the plank position as she did what few outside of an army could accomplish, all the while, trying to ignore her sexual frustration. There was no one to shoot, no one to war with and fucking hell, it was hot! Revy would be damned before she spent another cold shower barely stopping her hand from descending between her legs to stroke herself or ward off the need to rub her nipples that were so swollen, they pucker against her palm when she'd neared them. She had never acted on her impulses to undo her belt buckle and test the mattress with anyone before- "if it never happened in prison, it sure as hell wasn't going to happen in Roanapurr". Much more to the images in her head.

 _Nothing's worse than being treated like some whore by your companions. Nothing!_

She exhaled a breath as she lowers herself to the ground, inhaling for the strength to come back up.

 _Fifty-nine!_

Right now she was pisser than pissed and to make matters worse, it was _**not** _that time of the month yet she's been getting a 'Staccato Frenzy' for the last forty-eight hours.

 _Sixty-three._

This was all Rock's fault.

It was.

A couple of hours ago when they had returned to the docks she had been grinning from ear to ear like the Grinch on Christmas Eve. Envisioning her retribution being met out so intricately she could almost feel the satisfaction of landing that first blow to his eye, as promised. As soon as Dutch killed the engine, Revy had hopped off the deck of the Torpedo Boat, dropping anchor and tethering the boat with the heavy rope to the dock in quick succession.

"Your injuries are healing well," Dutch intoned from behind her.

 _When had he come up from the below deck?_

For a big man, Dutch reminded her of a cat. Silence, observant and mysterious.

"What makes you say that?"

"I didn't expect that you could moor the boat much more lift the anchor, Revy. I came up as soon as I could to help."

Finishing up, she made a 'tsking' sound then walked away almost too little quickly from the docks. _Great, now Dutch was undermining me as well._

Victim status would never be something she associated with herself ever again. Revy was eaten up with hatred, understandably so with the things that has happened to her in her past but even something like catching a cold pisses her off to the point of seething. While 'fuck' and anything else considered as inappropriate by others was as normal as breathing for her, words like weakness and mercy were considered as an insult to Revy. The very idea of being the object of someone's pity abraded her like a serrated knife being dragged slowly across her skin.

By the time she entered the office, she was tingling with excitement at the prospect of seeing that fucking Jap bastard. Her fists clenching and unclenching, her imagination running unchecked with the violence to come.

"Hey, welcome back," Benny said in his lazy slur, emerging from his work den. Left alone, Benny would slowly become a piece of equipment in that place. She barely registered that his hands were covered with dark grease, her brown eyes darting around the enlarged space of the office.

"Where is he?" She'd hissed.

With a slightly surprised look, Benny had said; "Rock seemed to be in very high demand today. Just got a call from Balalaika requesting to speak with him about some job she had that was... 'suited for his expertise'." He shrugged, "Her words not mine."

Dutch came in a few seconds early to catch that last bit. Though his body was facing in Benny's direction she could have sworn that his shaded eyes were trained her when he asked; "It's still early in the work day for him, did Balalaika pick Rock up?"

"No, he actually left about one hour ago," Benny answered, wiping his hands on a piece of white cloth that gradually changed it's color to a dingy brown with each swipe. "He seemed like he was sort of out of it today." He pointed at what looked like a busted up version what used to be the office's accountant calculator sitting on the coffee table.

There was a slight pause until Dutch asked, "Did something run over it?"

"Nope but it did crash head first into the wall when Rock threw it in some sort of...rage," Benny informed sounding puzzled and she couldn't say that she blamed him. Rock was more like the Mr. Levelheadedness to her spitting fire. While she was quick to pop-off on anyone that made a mistake, he would be the first to put in a soft response.

 _Wait...what the hell am I doing? Counting the opposites between us? What's next, our compatibility chart? How about picking the fucking petals off flowers, Revy?_

Like magic, another cigarette was in her mouth, already lit; the habit so seamless as if it knew that she needed one to pacify her violent bursts of emotion.

When she inhaled enough calm, Revy decided to scoff at her musings but when she spoke, it was more in response to the conversation between the three of them.

"What's heating his tits?"

Again she felt eyes on her.

Benny shrugged.

"Whatever it is," Dutch said pointed at the thing, "that's coming out of his paycheque."

Revy had stomped passed the both of them heading towards the stair that led to her room. She didn't need to hear anything else. Once Rock was with Sis, there was no way that she could get to him short of storming Hotel Moscow. Well, if she ever had a death wish in need of fulfillment then that would be the best idea ever. If there was one person Revy held respect for and didn't fuck around with unnecessarily, it was Balalaika.

"Fucking-motherfucker." She hissed under her breath.

Had he planned this?

She wouldn't put anything pass Rock now given the high-stakes death game she saw him execute flawlessly during that hunt between that Maid, the American soldiers, Balalaika's arm forces and _that_ little brat.

Now she would have to wait. Something she **hated** to do.

So here she was, doing push-ups to kill the time. She didn't dare touch the alcohol again. Did that last night and her room went from a dump to "Jesus Christ, what the fuck happened?!"

She could barely clear a spot to do her 'training'. New holes had opened up in her walls from her shooting at them randomly or at some ghost from her past, that materialized during her drunken rage. Needless to say, her AC with its loud rattling and cloughing sounds, hadn't made it out alive and now she was paying for her misjudgment. Sweat running between the valley of her breasts made the skin there slippery; it washed her face like water from a tap and her tank top clung to her.

 _Eighty-eight._

She had three options;

Go to the yellow flag and hoped for a fight or start one,

Swing by Eda's and get shit faced...no, no! That's a bad idea. Eda would just start talking about Rock and she knew she would just lose it, then and there.

Or option three.

 _Ninety-One._

She could go back to Rock's cheap ass hotel room. It was clean, probably has a working A/C unit too. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when got home and she was there waiting for him.

The idea gave her the energy to push up and down for the final stretch, the strain in her body forgotten because she was now seizing on the idea. Why hadn't she thought about it earlier? It was so simple.

 _Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine. One hundred._

Her muscle hurt like a son of a bitch but the thrill of the retribution to come made it easy to ignore. Mind on her newest idea, she showered quickly then redressed.

Rock's place was only eight minutes away by car, thirty by foot. She could take the car but people knew their company mobile and any fuck-wit that thinks they have the balls might want to kill her, something she would have welcome in a different situation but Rock had earned his private session with the way he treated her.

"Pitying me." She thrust her cutlasses into their holders, her teeth grinding against one another when she remembered the look in his eyes.

"Pinning me down like that then letting me go." That only meant that she was at _his_ mercy. The thought scalds her like a brand.

"That horse-cock bastard!" She cursed as she slammed the door behind her.

.

.

.

Fifteen minutes later, Revy's breaths panted heavily, her finger on the triggers of her pointed guns as she stood in the doorway of what was Rock's hotel room. Surging with adrenaline, Revy had ran all the way from the docks to the hotel, cutting the time in half. She entered through the service-way instead of the front entrance half expecting Rock to be back by now or close to it given his work ethic for completing tasks with swift efficiency. The man had a concentration consistency that could block out a train wreck. Expecting to find him off guard and unaware, she stepped into the hallway with ease only to tense up when she spotted the kicked in door then switch to kill mode when she saw two shadowy figures within, men from the looks of them and they were both armed. The place was trashed and Rock was nowhere in sight. With situation summed up in her mind, she growled out one question,

"Who the fuck are you?!"


	7. Chapter 7

Revy…

Revy listened as the wall took hit after hit in her defense and judged that the time was close for her to make her move. Her arms were almost numbed and some stiffness had set in from where her muscles had torn themselves apart.

"Motherfucking cocksuckers." Revy spat her curses in time with each round she fired off into the room. Her arms burning a screaming protest with every recoil but she kept them up, inhaling shallow breaths and ignoring the pain

Those who knew her were well aware of the fact that she is a woman which one did not fuck around with. These guys obviously needed to be taught a lesson. She ducked back out of sight behind the wall at the front door. She hadn't managed to get into the room yet since the bastards open fire as soon as she reached for her guns. A natural reaction.

 _Too natural._

It was clear that they intended to kill her which was just another day in Roanapurr.

She'd wanted an outlet to let off some steam and now she had gotten just that but she might have fucked herself prematurely in the process. In pique condition, she would have already put a bullet between the tall blond man's eyes who was sheltering behind the bathroom wall directly to the center of the room after kneecapping the black haired doughboy to her left. She'd had worst odds. But as it were, none of them had stopped firing for more than a few seconds and she was slow because of her injuries and sore muscles. In that same moment, she notices that her right calf was grazed by a bullet, blood pouring from the wound but nothing too serious.

"Where's ya boyfriend, bitch?" One of the men called out over a hale of bullets he and his partner were sending in her direction. His accent was hard to place and none of them look familiar to Revy. Whoever they are they weren't from around here but clearly, they knew Rock or at least, they came for him.

 _Something we have in common._ Revy thought. _But I called first dibs._

Now even more so because Rock was going have to explain to her just _why_ in the fuck she was dodging bullets on his behalf. Eye shiner just got upgraded to beat-down.

The only good thing that had come out of all of this so far, was that she was momentarily distracted from her problems of the vag and she hadn't been shot yet. That would really take the fun out of the 'funeral' she had progressing here and she was planning it for the two assholes held up in the room, not for herself.

She waited for the shots to subside from the two inside. Twelve bullets in from her side and not even so much as a grunt. The wall she was using as a shield was plugged. A couple more shots and the plaster will give way from the none stop firing by the dynamic duo in the room.

Just how much extra mags did they have on them? Within two minutes, Rock's already trashed hotel room was the equivalent to Swiss cheese. From the sounds of the guns, both men were using semi-automatics. Maybe Cz-75s but definitely 9x19 mm bullets. Meaning at least 16 rounds a piece. She'd packed only two extra mags for her twin Beretta 92fs sword cutlasses stacked at 15 rounds a piece. But with the way they've been firing, they must have used up at least three clips already.

These guys were idiot cowards and she was slow. So slow it was as if she was crawling.

"Motherfucker." She cursed under her breath bitterly when a bullet came burrowing through the plaster narrowly missing the back of her head.

Time to move.

Putting the nuzzle of her gun at the threshold of the door, she fired blindly into the room. The pain was challenging her aim and ensuring that she didn't hit a damn thing but it didn't matter. She only needed to get away from the wall to the other side. It worked as the men took cover and Revy crossed to the other side in the hall, popping off four rounds in the process.

 _It's a good thing they weren't using 50_ cals _or M2's or I'd have a new asshole right now._

She wanted to kick herself right about now square in the crotch for her lack of resistant earlier. All of this could have been avoided if she had just waited until Rock got in the office tomorrow morning and sacked him then and there and there wasn't a damn thing he or anybody else could have done about it. Instead of making her stronger, her training could be her undoing if this gunfight went on for much longer. It made her sluggish and it was only luck and dogged willpower to not lose to these bastards that had kept her alive so far. She's been holding out on her own by not fucking up too much all her life. It wasn't going to end here of all places.

She waited for the men to resume their assault and the sons of bitches didn't disappoint as they started to fire shots again at her current location immediately. Eventually, they would run out and at that time she couldn't afford to be out of bullets to kill them with. So she waited, biding her time, waiting for the opportunity. She was just thinking that she could fall back, a strategy to lure them to come out and look for her when movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention and she reacted. One gun trained on the figures coming from her left at the far side of the hall, their hands on rifles.

More of them? Shit!

She was a sitting duck in the open hallway. Was this one of those pussy-ass-sayings of, 'be careful what you wished for'?

 _Yeah, no shit._ She thought.

There was no way in hell was she going to die here. No way.

Falling back was no longer on the table. She could curse her stupidity later when she got out of this mess alive. She had a date of sorts with the man responsible for all of this and she wasn't going to miss it for anything.

In this line of work, some mistakes you don't live to regret. But sure as hell, she was getting out of this alive and there was only one more thing she could do at this point.

In a last spurt of energy, Revy crouched low then rolled into the room, guns aimed at both men. She pulled the trigger, again and again, to make up for the dysfunction of her ambidexterity and shitty aim at the moment. Bullets went flying. Doughboy cried out first, dropping his gun as he crumpled to the floor, clutching his right leg. Blondy followed him soon afterward, making a gurgling noise as he futilely tried to stem the blood coming from the gaping hole in his neck before slumping to the floor, dead. The whole thing was over in a few seconds.

But there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief as the sounds of heavy boots coming from the hallway stopped just before the door.

Revy dragged the whimpering fat man before her, looping an arm around his stocky neck and using him as a human shield. Her breaths were loud in her ears. Her hand holding the gun up under the man's double chin shook slightly. Seemingly endless moments of silence passed.

"Two Hands," Came the unmistakable sonorous voice of Balalaika from the hallway. It was more of a greeting, not a question.

"Yeah," Revy answered flatly but she didn't lower her gun, not for a second. Burn arms burn, but there was no way she was going to lower her guard even if it was Big Sis. She still didn't know why Balalaika was here or what was going on. Did that also mean that Rock was with her? Maybe he didn't know that his place had been trashed and he was just coming home? But why was he coming back with Balalaika and why did that thought piss her off a little more than it should?

Her musings were interrupted by the static sound of radio before Balalaika spoke to her again.

"I see that you've managed to keep one of them alive." Her heels click-clack on the floor heralding her approach to the door and in seconds she was standing in front of it, canting her head at the girl with her gun cocked and ready to blow the red-faced man's brains to high hell.

Revy was just wondering how she knew that when she saw a red dot on her arm. Her head swiveled around. There, through the window, on the roof on the next building over was a sniper.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked.

"Donald," Balalaika said to the man, ignoring Revy's question. "I can't say that I'm surprised.

"You Russian bitch!" Donald spat vehemently, "I ain't telling you shit. So go ahead and pull the trigger. Save yourself the time."

 _Fatty had balls? Who knew._ Revy thought, arching her eyebrows. She thought that he would be begging for his life right about now.

As if it appeared from nowhere, Balalaika took out her pistol and shot off a round into the man's injured leg, kneecapping the bastard. Revy took that moment to move from behind the howling man and holster her weapons.

Two giant Russians came into the room just then. Each man took one of Donald's flabby arms and heaved him to his feet or foot, in this case then carried him out.

"Hey sis, you still haven't answered my question. You owe me an explanation."

"I owe you nothing." Balalaika told Revy, "In fact, your intervention almost blew everything out the water. I almost gave my sniper the order to shoot you." The woman told her nonchalantly. "None of this concerns you, Two Hands,"

Revy wanted to fume, anger making her tongue quick before she could stop the words from spilling out.

"Where is Rock?" Revy asked through gritted teeth. "He concerns me."

A slow smile graced the Russian woman's lips. Her blue eyes alive with amusement.

"Does he then?"


	8. Chapter 8

Rock...

Rock groans in satisfaction the moment his body hit the made-up bed, his face burrowing into his new soft pillows, smelling their factory-fresh scent. He sighed heavily with contentment.

 _Heaven in hell._

There was just no other way to describe this.

After fifteen hours of nonstop transcribing and language translations, it was a miracle he could still have the energy to look for a place, let alone shop for a bed, sheets, a few groceries, and toiletries.

His new apartment was situated in a relatively quiet location a little farther from work than he would have liked but nothing to fuss about. Outside of the bed, the kitchen with a stove and refrigerator and the bathroom, there was nothing else but the dark green wall, AC unit, and blind-covered windows. When the door and windows were closed, he heard nothing but the sound of the AC. He would have to get some furniture for his cavernous new space. He had _space_ now for crying out loud and the rent was unbelievable.

To get a place like this would have been entirely impossible in normal circumstances and on such _short_ , **_short_ **notice but at the mention of Balalaika's name and the impossible became a series of groveling;

"No problem."

"Of course."

"Anything for Ms. Balalaika."

Five hours before the deadline, Rock found himself in her office. Honestly, he wasn't expecting that she'd still be up at that hour. Even at three in the morning, the woman looked fresh and professional. Not a hair out of place nor wrinkle in sight. Rock didn't even wanna know what he looked like. On a diet of strong coffee and cigarettes for hours on end?

 _Something out of a horror movie comes to mind._ He thought, attempting humor to keep himself awake.

"You've finished already?" Balalaika had said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Yes," Rock answered succinctly. His voice rough from lack of sleep.

She looked to his assistant, Viktor and the man nodded confirming that everything was in order.

Balalaika opened a draw in her desk then reached in.

"I'm sure I don't have to impress upon you the delicacy of the information you've just perused."

"No, you do not." Rock said but his tired eyes were on her hand while his mind worked on what she would do next. In his sleep-deprived state he chews over the possibility that at any moment now, he would have a bullet in the back of his head from Viktor or between his eyes from Balalaika, whose hand was slowly coming up out of the draw. With the things he's heard on _those_ tapes, why would they let him live?

Though he could be a dead man in a few seconds, all Rock could think about was- _Finally, I get to sleep._

Gallow's humor? He was never good at jokes.

The gun was not a gun. Instead, a fat manila envelope appeared on the desk.

"Well, I must say Rock, I'm glad that Mr. Kageyama was an idiot. A diamond such as yourself deserves proper polishing."

She patted the envelope. "Fifty large."

She smiled at him.

"Thank you," Rock said.

"If there is anything else, I will be in touch. And if there is anything I can do to help with your…current situation, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Actually, there is," Rock said.

Well, she did say don't hesitate.

After taking a nice hot shower and changing into the only pieces of clothing he cared to acquire since leaving hotel Moscow in the early morning; a white marina and a pair of boxers, Rock stretched out his long lean frame on his new foam mattress, feeling his bones creek with the action. The overnight growth of black stubble along his jaw had aged him, making Rock look more like his father than he would like to acknowledge but he couldn't find the strength to march back into the bathroom and shaved it clean like he would love to do.

He wanted to sleep like the dead.

His mind was more exhausted than his body but there was that nagging feeling that he was being watched. Maybe it was the fact that two times in a row his hotel room had been broken into. Once by Revy and then by someone else in connection with the job he just pulled off for Hotel Moscow. Sleep was at his heels, seducing him to close his eyes but he couldn't help the feeling that this wasn't over. Normally, it took him fifteen minutes, the least, to fall asleep and that was when he didn't feel like a shell of himself. Thoughts kept coming to his head, questions that he didn't have the answers to bubble up from the spring in his mind and he could feel the beginnings of a migraine pulsing at his temples; proof that he was beyond the point of exhaustion. Closing his eyes, he cleared his mind of the sundry of problems and possibilities that could arise.

No work today because he'd already contacted Dutch.

The phone had rung twice before an answer came on the line.

"Yeah," The dark-skinned man drawled sleepily. Understandable since it was 4:30 am. Rock didn't want to call but he had to.

"Dutch, I'm sorry about calling you so early."

"Rock?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Mm," Over the phone Rock could hear the strike of a lighter and a few moments later Dutch blow out a breath into the receiver. "You calling to tell me that you're not coming in today?"

"How did you-?"

"Balalaika got in touch with me about the nature of that little assignment she had you doing."

"That was nice of her."

A deep laugh sounded from his boss, "I've never heard Balalaika being described as 'nice' in any fashion."

Rock snorted.

"So you found a place yet?"

Was there anyone that didn't know about what happened to him before he told them?

"Yeah, I got somewhere."

"That was fast!"

"Yeah," Rock said.

"Well, it's a good thing," Dutch said sounding relieved for some reason. " 'Cause I was going to offer you a couch at the docks until you got back on your feet," Dutch told him and Rock cringed.

Him, in the same place as Revy? As in after hours? Bad idea.

"Uh… Thanks, Dutch," Rock had said, trying and failing to hide his feelings on the suggestion. "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah."

 **X**

Rock shook the conversation from his mind. He needed to sleep.

 _Nothing's going to happen._ Rock thought tiredly trying to convince himself. _Just go to sleep._

He sighed a long breath, listening to the AC whirling overhead. It blew icy breaths over his clean skin. Even though it was only seven in the morning, the heat outside was unforgiving. But with his apartment closed off and the AC working its magic, the heat was only real when he thought about it. Fluffing one of his pillows, he got comfortable and closed his heavy lids.

Within seconds, he knew nothing. Out like a light.

Sometime later the sound of water entered into his sleeping consciousness.

 _Water?_ Rock thought dazed. He was half awake-half asleep but he wasn't dreaming. Of this, he was certain.

Was it raining?

When the sound of a door open then close, he blinked open his eyes suddenly very awake indeed and aware that he was no longer alone in his apartment. Alarm and De Ja Vu slammed into him hard. He looked around the empty space to find something, anything to help him fight whoever it was that had broken into his place. Again!

 _This is not happening._

Investigating the kitchen silently for something he could use as a weapon, he discovered that whoever was in the bathroom had taken the liberty of eating the deli sandwich and fruit bowl he'd been too tired to enjoy and merrily left the empty plastic containers on his kitchen counter.

"Oh. My. God!" Rock's hushed tone was appalled at the audacity of his uninvited guest. His migraine redoubling.

Finding nothing to defend himself with, he decided that he would confront the problem head-on. Marching to the bathroom door, he wasn't thinking clearly. The collective of the last 24 hours plus the sum total of three back to back break-ins had his mind reeling.

Rock was at his limit!

Yanking the door open, he took a breath to shout only to choke on his words when his eyes took in the woman stepping out of his shower.

"Get the fuck outta here and shut the fucking door, you fucking pervert!"

"Revy?" Rock said bewildered. "Wha- What are you doing here!?"


	9. Chapter 9

Revy…..

Revy came through the back laundry area. Picking the lock of the back door on the four-story landing was standard issue and the entire thing took her no less than fifteen seconds to hear a 'click'.

"Candy baby."

The place was nice and spacey. Not that she was surprised. Rock had a way of getting the impossible done with seemingly zero effort.

She would have been here much, much earlier if she didn't have to go in for work _and_ if Balalaika, that spiteful bitch, had just told her where Rock was. She wouldn't have had to go through the spy network: the all-knowing Human-Google-System of Roanapurr- with cutlass in hand, threatening anyone with information. Just thinking about their conversation after the gunfight made her almost lose her temper.

She half expected to find Rock up and about. Given his neat-freak-nature, she thought that he'd be unboxing stuff or putting things in order. Hanging a painting on the wall.

 _Damn_ _sissy._

Moving silently through the passageway, she found him in his bedroom on his back lightly snoring, fast asleep. _No wonder he wasn't coming into work today._

Upon hearing that news from Dutch as they headed out to port after returning from the hotel, she was more than a little annoyed and relieved at the same time that she decided to come in. With the both of them not at work today, she knew someone would have tried to make something out of it.

 _Like Big Sis did._ Revy ground her teeth at the thought then took a deep breath to steady herself. Inhale. Exhale.

Standing at the edge of the double bed, she watched the gentle rise and fall of Rock's chest as he slept blissfully unaware that she was standing over him; her twin guns holstered, brows furrowing in thought. Tilting her head to the side, she studied him a little. She'd never seen him like this before. Out of his corporate clothes with a five o clock shadow, he looked more mature, not the young scared Japanese she'd kidnapped for ransom. That seemed like so long ago now.

 _Something's wrong with me._

After literally days of pre-mediation of what she would do when she saw Rock. How much she would hurt him and make his skin change color. Here she was, opportunity staring her in the face yet she felt no anger. No call to action. Why? Was beyond her!

 _Am I losing my edge?_

Her eyes roved over his broad shoulders and lean muscular frame, taut thighs and legs with short burnish-black hair that laid flat to the skin. Looking closer, she could see that he had a few scars on his knees and a long jagged one on his left leg that started from mid-thigh all the way up, disappearing under his boxers. His _tented_ boxers.

"Shake it off Revy." She said to herself in a quiet whisper.

Concentration somewhat restored, she wondered how Rock got such a scar like that- it looked deep. And how come she didn't see it two nights ago when he was naked before her?

 _Maybe because I was too busy grabbing his cock?!_

She closed her eyes, embarrassment filling her to the core. She didn't even know that she could feel embarrassment until Rock came into her life.

Forever and a day now, Revy's thought of most men as pigs. She respected Dutch and Benny; they were like family to her. Her crewmates. Even Chang was like a big brother figure to her. Rock was supposed to be the same, a member of the family she never had. But he wasn't. He wasn't just a member or just a friend. He didn't fit a category and that's what has her reeling.

 _Nothing's worst, Revy. Nothing!_ _Don't let your fucking guard down._ She reminded herself even as her _s_ taccato rhythm returned with a vengeance and her panties were all but dripping. Horny as fuck? She might as well have invented that saying. But she could work around this. It had been...some time since she's been with someone. She was just sexually desperate; that's all it was. In a bid for a distraction, Revy turned on her heels toward the kitchen. She opened the tall silver refrigerator. Got lucky. Then sat down at the counter to eat.

"I'm only keyed-up". She reassured herself again. But what to do about it?

Feeling the slick wetness between her legs, Revy decided to head to the bathroom. Putting her guns on the bathroom counter, she stripped and stepped into the shower stall.

"Nothing a shower won't solve."

Revy moaned her approval as soon as the perfect temperature water hit her skin, washing the last nine hours down the drain as she lathers soap on to her body. Between the quiet of the bathroom and the running water, the conversation she had with Balalaika popped into her mind and she made a fist against the tile.

 ** _Back at Rock's hotel room, nine hours ago._**

Balalaika pointedly looked at her watch then raised one perfect brow.

"4 am in the morning, Revy?" She gave her an appraising look. "I wasn't aware that the nature of your relationship with Rock extended to booty call territory."

Revy's hands had fisted. "Watch it, Sis." She'd almost growled out the warning. Was Balalaika hinting that she was a whore?

 _Cool it Revy._ She knew if she tried to start some shit, she wouldn't be alive by the time she touched her gun.

Balalaika laughed airily, waving a hand at her dismissively. She knew Revy was all bark and that she, Balalaika, held all the cards.

"It's nothing like that." Revy had snapped, trying not to blush because now that she thought about it, it really did look like that. "Just tell me where he is?" She demanded.

Balalaika canted her head at Revy in that same way she did when she was thinking whether to continue the conversation or shoot the person.

"I believe he's shopping for an apartment at the moment with a few of my comrades. At this hour, Roanapurr tends to show its fangs. I wouldn't want anything happening to my little diamond now, would I?"

Revy had bit the inside of her jaw. _Her diamond? What the fuck did that mean?_

As if her thoughts were on her face, Balalaika shrugged casually.

Revy decided to brush it off. Instead, she pondered the craziness of this entire thing. Apartment shopping? At 4 in the morning? Who does that!?

Boris held out Balalaika's Russian Kaptain's military coat, signaling that they were readying to leave. Coming up with blanks, Revy asked one more question.

"Why didn't he check into a hotel for the night?" She asked.

Without looking at her Balalaika shrugged into her coat then flick her waist-length blond hair from the cover of the garment. "That's his business and none of mine. Besides, it seems like hotel rooms are dangerous this time of the year."

 **X**

Washing the remainder of the suds from her body, Revy cleaned between her legs. What was supposed to be a shower was quickly turning out to be something else as wave after wave of stimulation ran through her like a current. She whimpered out a mew as she washed; her bottom lip captured between her teeth. She could feel how swollen her clit was. Blood had collected there making the nerves so super sensitive, every touch was making her want to do more. She knew she should stop. Then why wasn't she? Between her index and middle finger, she stroked herself. One hand on the tiled wall for support; her toes curling in a tight coil as she rested her weight on the heels of her feet. Her breaths were panting hard. Her eyes closed as she worked her fingers inside; moving them faster and faster...

The sound of the door handle turning had her removing her hand quickly. Water rinsing her slippery fingers clean of the act.

"Fuck!" She whispered as she tried to open the sliding door to reach the towel folded on the counter.

She didn't make it to the counter.

* * *

Rock...

" _I'm_ a pervert!?" Rock exploded in disbelief then immediately regretted it as his migraine reacted to the echo of his raised voice in the bathroom. He winced but he was so angry he didn't care.

 _Too far. Too soon._

"What gives you the fucking right, Revy!? This is my place!"

The fact that she's naked didn't escape him but as enticing as all of her is, his ire demanded appeasement.

He spotted her guns on the counter. Before he knew what he was he doing, he reached for them.

"Hey! What the fuck!?" Revy shouted, assaulting his ears and aggravating his migraine. He threw the towel in her face. With her reflexes, he expected that they would be having a tossel, him wrestling the weapons from her. She trying to kill him. A dangerous gamble he knew, which meant he was right at home with the situation. But somehow, that didn't happen.

He grabbed the guns in their holsters then pushed the lock-in on the door.

"Rock, you better gimme my fucking guns back!" Revy told him and he could hear how insensed she was.

 _Good. So am I._ He thought. Pissed wasn't an accurate description of what he was feeling right now. Rock then slipped out of the bathroom, locking her in. He would have seconds to put her guns away but once and for all, they were going to settle this. Whatever it was between them.

He just locked a draw with a key when the bathroom door slammed open and Revy walked out slowly, barefooted and dressed only in her panties with his towel draped over her shoulders covering her breasts that bounced with every purposeful step that she took towards him.

He took a deep breath, channeling his focus on his anger. Leaning against the kitchen counter, Rock crossed his arms over his chest.

"Let's talk Revy."

"Talk?" She repeated, her eyes on his hands then darting everywhere before landing back on him. No doubt looking for her weapons.

"Yeah," Rock answered.

"Fine." She said through gritted teeth. "Just who the hell am I gonna talk to?"

Rock's brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Am I gonna talk to Rock." She hissed out the words venomously. "Or will I be speaking with Mr. Rokuro Okajima."

Rock's jaw slacken.


	10. Chapter 10

Dutch lit up a cigarette, drawing deep on the end. His face to the horizon as he exhaled a smokey breath.

The boat rocked a little. Someone else had just come on board from the pier.

"You have that look on your face again," Benny intoned from behind him.

"Hmm. What look?"

"The one that makes me want to spend good money to know what you're thinking." The blond man said, walking up to him then handing him a Heineken can.

"It ain't nothing serious," Dutch said, his baritone rumbling. At least, he hoped it wasn't.

He's always been a keen observer and only a man of action when it was required. Been that way ever since he was a kid, some fifty years back. Little escaped his notice. Whatever this thing was between Rock and Revy, he couldn't help but wonder if it was going to cause problems for his business. Revy has issues and that was putting it mildly. Rock? Well, he wasn't just your average puzzle that's for damn sure. Dutch still couldn't figure it out. Six months prior when Balalaika requested Rock for that interpreter's gig in Japan, he would have bet his boat, that that would be the last he saw of Rokuro Okajima. Why would he come back to this shit hole? Twice now, Rock has had the opportunity to say goodbye to the Gangster's Paradise of Roanapurr. Once with his old boss a couple of days after he was kidnapped and then this last time. Dutch couldn't say he understood what the allure of this place was for the young Japanese.

* * *

Rock…

"Rokuro...Okajima...?" Was that his distracted husky voice? His focus was suffering and it wasn't just because of his migraine.

 _What a timely reminder._ Rock thought, frustrated in the most acute way possible. This was the exact type of scenario he wanted to avoid.

It'd took him a damn long while to get this same exact image of her out of his head! It was difficult, _to say the least_ , to remind himself that he needed to stay focus on the tasks at hand and more importantly, that he didn't need his body riddled with bullet holes whenever they were alone together working on a job and **_that day_ **conveniently pops up in his head. The same day she gave him a silver bullet.

There was nothing to be gained if he developed any misguided feelings for her, only an awkward turn to an already tenuous relationship between his former kidnapper and she couldn't give him what he would really want. What he's craved. He knew that for certain. But even that deterrent wasn't enough to remove the surprise of being treated to the full tantalizing image of her pert, sexy ass and plump womanly flesh straining against the material of her tiny low-rider panties when she'd walked out of the shower with him in the room, sitting on her bed. Caught off guard, Rock had stared enthralled at every luscious curve and dip his greedy eyes couldn't get enough of as he drank her in. Thankfully, her back was turned to him so she didn't see his reaction. He remembered his nails digging into the mattress and biting down on his bottom lip so hard to choke back a groan as a swift heat roiled through him. It was as if all the blood in his body had suddenly magnetized to his groin, making him shot hard as stone. Unfortunately, that reaction has never dimmed whenever he thought about it.

Night after sultry night when sleep refused him, he couldn't resist the pull of that memory as his fist went flying up and down his veiny cock in a lather. He told himself that he was just trying to get it out of his system; justifying his reasons as he masturbated, cumming into his palm again and again to the mental image of her taut ass bending over, full breasts swaying ever so **_teasingly_** under the pathetic cover provided by the towel as she took out a drink. Fucking torturing him like that!

Clearing his throat, Rock tried to speak again, "Rokuro Okajima died the day I met you, Revy, you know that. I don't understand what you're trying to say. Is this just to get back at me for bringing up your past. For mentioning Rebecca?"

He wouldn't put it past her. For Revy, power is everything.

Rock had not thought about his given name in so long, it was almost foreign to him. Hell, he didn't even know Revy had been paying that much attention to him to know what it was. They certainly have never had that conversation. He prided himself on knowing people, it's what he's good at but he had to admit he wasn't ready for any of this.

 _Eyes up._ He had to remind himself again in as many moments.

He was angry with her and damn it, he was within his right to be so. In all fairness, if it were him that had broken into her room he probably wouldn't have lived to apologize for it! Yet, as the seconds ticked on with her standing before him like this, his emotions were being…redirected. He inhaled a hissing breath slowly, softly through his teeth.

Maybe with her guns locked away, it was easier for his treacherous eyes to stray, stealing glances of sun-kissed skin, flat toned stomach and as his gaze trailed lower…

 _I need a smoke. Oh God, I need a cigarette!_ The first of many, he suspected, he would light up in his new apartment before this evening was through. Rock had a line that he didn't cross when it came to relationships within the workplace. Too often he had seen couples get involved in a moment of need only to find out later that they had made a mistake. Depending on who had the bigger position, the other might find themselves at the bitter end of a vengeful ex-lover's abuse. Though it would never happen in a million years, for him and Revy to be at odds like that? With her temper and his new found rule of not putting up with her bullshit? He would have to leave Roanapurr.

 _Remember the line Rock. Look at her face. Just her face, damn it!_

Failing miserably, he looked away; fingers tunneling through his hair, teeth biting the inside of his bottom lip. Taking a breath again, he tried to compose himself. With most of his lower body shielded from her view by the counter between them, he could probably get himself under control before she notices. But how to do that when the air conditioning in the apartment was only helping to encourage the pressure in his balls to a burgeoning ache?

He swallowed as she stomps towards him, closing the distance between them. The movement caused those sensual breasts to jolt with every step she took towards him. His erection throbbed. The chances that she wouldn't see his hard-on were slim at best.

"The fuck you don't know what I'm talking about," Her brows furrowed into a mask of anger, hands balled into fists. "You have no idea the number of things you've-"

"That I've what?" Rock asked tilting his head at her mulish expression and flushed face. When silence met his curiosity, they both just stared at each other.

Revy was just trying to find some means to sway this into something that he had done. Making him out to be the villain in some way so that she could play the tragic heroine. Typical.

After what seemed like a minute, her eyes left his then they assessed his position. He was standing with his body leaned into the counter, trying to conceal his _wood_ under the wood but not exactly achieving the 'tree in the forest' camouflage in this case.

"Is that where my guns are?" She laughed humorlessly.

His habits were clawing at him, demanding; "Feed us! Feed us!" His erection pulsated in a race with his throbbing headache.

"No, they are not here."

Why hadn't he bought a pack of cigarettes or some liquor this morning? Instead of just food and other things normal people needed.

"Bullshit," Revy said reaching under the counter and pushing him away.

"Hey, stop it!" Rock cried knocking her hand away that brushed against him.

She tsked disdainfully. " A flash of tits and surprise, surprise you're hard," Revy rolled her eyes.

With increasing frustration bubbling up within him, Rock said: "You're an attractive, incredibly sexy woman that's basically naked in my apartment alone with me. How else do you expect me to react?"

She enunciated every word sneeringly. "Like any other pig."

"Uh-huh... Well, it's my pleasure to disappoint you, Revy." About to turn away from her to his bedroom he told her, "I'll get you my shirt to put on..."

"Suck a cock you fucking queer!" She cut in, sounding pissed. Why? He wasn't sure but he's had enough of this. Whatever the hell it was!

"What the hell is your problem?" Confusion riding him hard he continued. "And that doesn't even make any sense." Feeling the heat of anger creeping back into his veins. What was she expecting him to do? Knock her over the head with her guns then take advantage of her? Did she really see him as that type of man? Didn't she know him better than that?

She shrugs. "Who knows, maybe my ass turns you on."

"Maybe it does," He said through gritted teeth, watching the surprise register on her face at his admission. He turned to her fully, his cock straining towards her like an arrow. "But as I've stated before it's a physical reaction, it's not something I can help. But _just_ because I'm not one of those men who force his desires on a woman," Her eyes grew wide at that then they narrowed in suspicion. Rock kept his expression neutral even as confirmation hit him like a bullet. "That doesn't mean that I'm gay. I'm decent, Revy but I'm also human. I'm not dead."

She opens up her mouth to say something but he cut her off. "And I'd like to keep it that way.

* * *

Revy...

If chivalry is dead then what the fuck did she call this?

"Decent?" She drawled sweetly, taking steps toward him until very little space remained between them. She smiled up at him. "That's what pussies say." She taunted. "Is Rock, the man who terrorized Roanapurr in that death game- playing with peoples lives like pieces on a chessboard, a pussy?"

"What are you doing." He asked, his voice raspy.

She wanted to know the same thing. Why was she goading him like this knowing full well that Rock wasn't someone to back down from a challenge? His dark eyes held hers like an anchor. In this storm of emotions she was in the middle of, that's precisely what she needed. And fuck! It was sexy as hell.

The last time they were this close, she'd squeezed him hard in her hand, so it was no surprise when Rock took a step back from her but she boxed him in slamming one of her hands down on the counter. What man wouldn't take advantage when he had the upper hand on a woman? There were no men like that in Roanapurr or anywhere else for that matter unless they were used to being on _their_ hands and knees.

 _You're hard as stone yet you're offering me a shirt?_ She thought, her body tingling with some new emotion that she couldn't name.

Rock also had her guns and no doubt he's also seen her slow reflexes. He had power over her! She's never been more vulnerable. What was his game? Why not make a pass at her? For some reason, she was annoyed at that. Was he thinking that she wasn't good enough for him, even though he called her sexy and attractive? Incredibly attractive!

With a mischievous look, she reached for him. His hand shot out to stop hers but it was too late.


	11. Chapter 11

Rock...

Rock's knees nearly buckled as Revy's thumb encircles his sensitive cock head in seemingly languorous fascination.

 _Agony_.

Her hand fondled his length until his fingers were digging into the kitchen counter behind him. Every muscle felt corded in concert with tension; in his forearms, down his torso and lower. When her hand had snaked into his boxers and wrap around his shaft, dread had suffused his entire body. The memory of their last encounter permeated his mind in a flash. He wasn't hard then but now, with blood and pressure elongating his member, the pain would be exponentially more than what he'd felt when she'd last had him in her grip.

 _Why is she doing this to me?_ He managed a thought while resisting the urge to roll his eyes in his head at the sheer intensity of just that whisper of touch.

Was it to torment him? To get him into a state of need and bliss so high just to stop in the middle? That would be the worst! No, he couldn't get caught up in whatever game she was playing. There was no way he was _this_ lucky and knowing Revy, this couldn't end in anything else but disaster.

He wanted to make her stop. Really, he did! Logically at least. He already had one scar to last him for the rest of his life, he didn't need another. Hell, would he even survive this one?

She didn't want to be with him. He knows this.

 _Then why the fuck is she doing this to me?_ He once again tried to understand.

In the back of his mind still capable of thinking, he sees himself backing out of her grip or grabbing her hand to tug her off him. But that was tricky. She literally has his life in her hands. A quick flick of her wrist and pleasure would turn into unimaginable pain.

Rock inhaled sharply. "Revy, don't do this to me." He told her when he felt like begging, 'More. Please don't stop. Don't. Stop!'. He barely kept his hips from bucking up into her grasp, needing to be taken over that edge of release so much! The intoxicating tingle of anticipation in her touches stroking his curiosity to a fever pitch made him want to close his eyes and imagine, if only for the briefest of moments, that she really wanted this. That she really wanted him.

How can hands capable of such lethality be _so_ soft?

If he slipped his hands into her panties right now and explore, would he find her wet and aching for what he wanted so desperately to give her?

Another rapturous touch over the slit of his cock and thoughts scattered.

"Fuck. Oh, fuck!" Rock rasped, his voice deepening to a husky tone as his needs grow more fiercely. This was the absolute worst way she could get him. Of all the physical abuse, the threats; he would switch with all of those just to skip this because try as he might (And he has tried) he still fantasizes about her to a staggering degree since he believes that's all they could ever have. Now they were like this! He was already so close and she's keeping him just at the edge whether she knows it or not.

Rock's head fell back and his lids closed of their own accord as if to help him concentrate on this act between them. "Aaah! oh God, Revy!" He shuddered. His body temperature was running hot yet his skin goosebumped all over from her exploration of him.

"You like that baby?" Revy asked him in a throaty whisper, her voice like a siren's imparting a secret to him, so different from what he knew she was really like. "Yeah, ya do," She told him as if he were arguing the point. That New York accent becoming more pronounced.

Rock's eyes cracked open, his breaths heaving as he looked at Revy. His expression grave. "Don't toy with me,"

That was a warning. If Rock loses his grip on his control, she might not like the outcome. Though he could _never_ rape a woman, that was not him, he didn't like someone playing with his emotions either; hyping him up only to leave him high and dry when things got serious especially when it came to sex, something he didn't get very often and that's by culture unless he buys a prostitute and again, he's not that type of man. Revy wouldn't know but his dominant side came out in the bedroom. He is a Leo, after all.

A smile like he's never seen on her face curled her lips, lighting her eyes. She made another lazy swirl then stroked his shaft and his breath hitched.

" _Toy?"_ Her nails lightly raked over the smooth skin of his cock and he groans before sucking in a gulp of air. Then she continues to stroke the head. "Don't you want me to play with your big cock, Rock? It seems to really like me."

Another bead of pre-cum must have already inked out because the slip increased as did the sensations. His breaths panted as pleasure, _searing_ pleasure, churned through him with all the finesse of a freight train. His stomach muscles quivered and flexed as groans escaped his mouth uncontrollably.

His breaths shallowed as more sensations bombarded him, contorting his face into a mask of strain as the need to cum grew ever nearer. He didn't want to. Not yet. His head fell forward and he was helpless not to thrust up as she began to pump him hard in her tight grip. His fingers let go of their hold on the counter. Leaning towards her, his forehead touched her own briefly before his lips found hers. It surprised Rock when Revy started kissing him back after a moment's hesitation. One of his hand slipped behind her neck grasping her nape to deepen the kiss while the other clutch her waist, pulling her against him. When his tongue forced and invaded between parted lips, he twirled it into her mouth at his leisure and she gave a cry against his lips, eliciting a deep answering groan from him. Rock closed his eyes again, still disbelieving. He was certain that she would have done something by now to stop this.

Again, did she _really_ want this with him? He was quickly becoming uncaring. Relishing it, even.

His hips continued to undulate, fucking her fist faster and faster before slowing only to repeat the process; keeping his climax at bay. Barely. If his visceral reactions to what the Revy of his thoughts did to him, what they enjoyed together, had his back bowing night after night as he came in a rush, sometimes staying hard afterward? Now, with the possibility of them actually having sex just in front of him, his curiosity was almost undeniable. To know what it's like to be inside her for the first time, feeling her hot, tight and wet around his aching cock, like he's dreamed about so many times? He grew impossibly harder in her palm just imagining that.

Pivoting their bodies, Rock put Revy between the counter and himself. With his need pelting reason into a dull hum at the back of his head, Rock kissed her hard and slow as if his life depended on it. For someone with such a tart tongue like Revy, her kiss was sweet as honey. Rich. A man could get dangerously addicted to a kiss like this.

 _From sexy lips like hers_.

He didn't want to pull away even as the need for air was setting in. His hand slipped down from her nape. So into the act was he, enjoying the heated exchange of their tongues that it was uncertain when his hands started their perusal of her ample breasts under the towel before the towel was slipped from her shoulders altogether. He did pull back from the kiss then, breathing in deep amounts of air into starving lungs. Eyes locked on her pink nipples, watching his thumbs play with them. Revy was out of breath too. His thoughts returned for a second and he had to wonder if this was the moment when the spell would be broken between them? When the reality of what just happened sink in and they would be back to what they had always been to each other. He didn't want that. Yes, he had a line but right now he finds himself in the twilight of 'damn the consequences and not giving a fuck.'

Rock licked his lips watching her mounts move with her every breath. Only one word came to his mind as he stared at her beautiful breasts.

 _Exquisite._ He thought in hazy contentment.

His hands alternated between flicking and encircling her up-turned nipples with urgent thumbs and palming them then massaging unhurriedly. She arched her back to his touch, her eyes heavy-lidded with desire. Rock wanted nothing more than to take his time with them; licking them, sucking their peaks until they puckered and stiffen around his eager tongue. After fantasizing for so long, this was what this felt like. How can he ever go back to just being satisfied with thinking about it any more?

Bending his knees a little, he cupped one breast to his mouth then sucked. His thumb continued to stroke the other.

"Hmm, yes!" He heard Revy moan in approval. "That's it, baby. Yes, harder." Her fingers found his hair, clutching his head to her.

 _She wants this._ He thought dazedly, his tongue swirling around her pink areola before resuming a slow hard suck; making sounds of delight as he did so. After leaving one nipple wet and pouting, Rock started on the other one. Yes, he could take his time. Enjoying the taste of her skin.

It only occurred to him that she had stopped pumping his shaft when he thrust against her hand as he sucked her breasts. When he was through with the other nipple, he began kissing from that breast in an upward trail, resting at her collar bone, his lips to her skin but unable to take his hands from her breasts for too long.

Their relationship has been altered no matter what happened after this, they could never take it back. For Rock, whatever happens later or tomorrow, he would figure it the fuck out. He just needs this, right here, right now with her.

His hands descended lower from their hold until they edged at her panties before his fingers started to drag them down and immediately he perceived a tension from her.

"Rock?" her voice was still throaty but there was a distinct tinge of something else there. Panic. She released her hold on him only to clutch his shoulders. And her hands shook.

 _Shit!_

A feeling of bitter disappointment started to invade him coupled with frustration because it was obvious what would happen next. But still, he tried to coax her from stopping him here. Yes, she set this entire thing into motion and no doubt she came here to hurt him in some way but that didn't matter anymore because now, more than ever, he wanted to make this good for her.

"You know I'll never hurt you or do anything you don't want me to," He whispered comfortingly against her skin. Unwilling to stop the momentum of what they've shared so far, he continued kissing from her neck up to her jawline. Worry was on her face as plain as day and it looked so out of place on his brave, fearless Revy. For someone like Rock, who thought he would never want to harm another human being out of spite, he really wished he could kill those bastards so slowly that did this to her. Once again, his forehead rested on hers lightly, eyes locked on hers, he said;

"It's just me, Rock. _Your_ Rock."

Revy's chest heaved up and down. Before his eyes left hers he told her, "You have two choices; watch me work or stop me now. Choose."

"I-I don't know..." She started to say but he interrupted.

"Then stop me when you do." He said before he started kissing her again. His fingers pinched the waistband of her panties before slowly tugging them down once more, bending his knees as he lowered himself with every inch milestone he accomplished without her telling him to stop. As he did this, his kissed a trail leisurely down her tattooed neck, between the valley of her breasts, over her trembling belly only stopping once to dip his seeking tongue into her navel, swirling wet kisses there, listening to her mews and moans as the tension from earlier ebbed little by little from her body. From his vantage on one knee, he could smell her sweet arousal. He continued his kisses, taking his mouth lower before finally resting when her panties were ringed at her ankles and he was at eye-level with her bared sex. Her folds were already glistening wet and swollen at his arrival and he had to bite back a curse. He wasn't sure that if she tried to stop him now, that he could find the will power to not continue. When his hands went to her hips to steady her for what he was about to do next, he could barely wait. He's been waiting for so long already. With parted lips, Rock leaned in closer, eyes locked on her face, never looking away, as he covered her with his mouth.


	12. Chapter 12

Revy...

Revy suddenly felt weightlessness.

A minute ago, Rock had knelt between her legs kissing her in places no man had ever kissed her; his sprawled fingers kneading into her asscheeks like a pizza dough as he went to _work_ on her swollen flesh. She wouldn't be able to look at his mouth again without growing wet in her shorts because **_Rock_ **has the devil's tongue. Flicking its pointed tip over her clitoris with the lightest caresses, he had her up on her toes before she knew what she was doing. Both fists in his hair pressing him close as if she couldn't get him close enough. Knees falling apart with her back brace against the kitchen counter for balance; they widened to give him full access. When he'd found her piercing, he kissed her there like he kissed her mouth making her moan with abandon and sending her hips undulating into a slow grind against his firm lips. Through the storm of inconceivable pleasure assaulting her body, she thought ;

 _This is **insane**! _

Confounding and detrimental to both of them if she allows it to continue but for all the fucks sakes,

 _It feels so good!_ _What the fuck is happening to me?_

Maybe she'd finally cracked. The evidence keeps mounting on that score because this was so not like her at all! She should be pushing him away, not sodding chanting to him;

"Suck my pussy! Oh, oh yes! Suck it! Mmm! Don't stop! You're licking my clit so good, baby. So fucking good!"

But when their lips made contact the first time, a feeling like sparks, as if she touched a live wire, the kiss had sent an electric current running through her entire body awakening something unfamiliar; which scared and excited her? Her thoughts were in a twister, unable to get her barrings and that was not just because Rock was working his tongue magic between her thighs. Although that wasn't helping either.

This week is a week of firsts for Revy.

 ** _Twice now_** , she'd touched Rock's cock. Not through his pants like she had in the past with others when she'd grabbed, squeezed and on occasion when the fancy struck, bend dicks. Rock is the first man she's ever touched directly between his legs skin to skin. Never had she felt hot, engorged flesh pulsating in her palm like a heartbeat or at least, she hadn't savored the moment as she'd done this last time. The broad mushroom head was already so slick. The smooth skin punctuated with veins running along his impressive length.

Revy's always thought of men in general as disgusting yet now she's _allowing_ one between her legs? She didn't know fully how to feel about that. In fact, she's only ever seen men in two lights; pigs that needed to be slaughtered and friend-ish-family-like members of the opposite sex that had her loyalty to varying degrees depending on various factors. As long as they didn't touch her or mouth off unnecessarily when they shouldn't, they wouldn't have her bullets through their hearts. The Revy version of Cupid's arrow. Valentines would never be the same again!

Though this isn't the first time she's gotten head. She's had her share of past lovers. Some were in the top ten, others not so impressive but the only persons she's ever fucked of her own volition were always women. Yet each swirl, dip and suckle from Rock had her toes curling tighter, always the first sign that she was getting closer to her orgasm. She bit her bottom lip in an effort to stem the stream of moans and pleas coming from her mouth but it was no use. It kept animated with sounds to spur him on while her fingers held a firm grip in his soft hair and her hips moved aggressively against his mouth like she had an itch and his face is the all-in-one scratcher for pussy relief. He had her in a heels-digging-toes-curling state, not knowing what to do with herself and he hasn't even fingered her yet.

Top ten? Try top two.

 _Definitely making the podium._

Releasing one of her hands from his tresses, she petted one of her breasts, moaning as she pinched the sensitive tip between her thumb and index fingers. The AC had dried the area Rock had sucked and kissed, and already she wanted his mouth back on her tits. It felt like a hunger only he could sate.

Why? When less than twenty-four hours ago Revy would have sworn on the destruction of her guns and pain of death that she would never be in a web like this with anyone in Roanapurr.

Yes. She's sexually desperate. Yes. For the last three days, she'd been in a Staccato Rhythm Frenzy of over stimulation but that was no excuse. She shouldn't be aching for him to thrust his fingers into her to ease the yawning emptiness she felt inside. She shouldn't be so close to begging him to make her cum.

More uncharacteristic?

This was the first time she'd ever not met out her planned retribution when she'd burn to hurt him for days. So unlike her!

Earlier, when she gripped him again, Rock had gone owl-eyed, the fear in his expression was palpable when the realization of what she was about to do to him moved from thought to reality. She had him like a cat who'd cornered a mouse. Claws out! Revy might not have her weapons at the ready but with Rock like that, there would be little resistance he could put up against her. And if she wanted, he wouldn't be able to move at all. She'd planned initially to torture him sexually, making him catch a case of blue balls, you know. Most men who found her sexy and tried to do something about it got to die by her bullets. Blue Balls seem like a generous discount in comparison to that.

She wasn't supposed to grow fascinated the more he resisted, the more he didn't buckle when most would have jumped at the opportunity to touch her. To fuck her!

She witnessed his white-knuckled reaction even as right before her eyes his skin had goosebumped from sensitivity, his flat nipples puckered through the thin white marina. Still, his hands remained put as of they were glued to the counter. There she was, jerking him off, dressed in only a towel and her panties and he wasn't even touching her?! Still keeping up the gentleman act. Talk about an ego kick to the nuts. All the more reason she wanted to make him suffer.

The plan was simple. Make Rock's balls blue.

How the hell did she get enticed by the lust in his strained voice? His pleas to her. Was it because his harried whispers begging, "Revy no! Please don't." were so _delicious?_! Or was it just to scrape up her pride off the ground. Somehow just watching him struggle like that whet her sadistic appetite. It had her growing wetter between her legs as if a dam had just been breached.

This is what this felt like. This was what...she's never known.

 _Fever hot skin!_ She thought in a daze as she'd stroked him. And she was discovering it with Rock of all people.

The same Rock that had resurrected all her demons three months ago when he took on that job involving those brats and that maid just so he could save them and beat Chang at his own gamble. Because of that job, her past had come back to haunt her though she thought she'd buried all of it. For years, Revy had successfully managed to vacation in distractions, drunkenness, violence and the repertoire of not giving a shit about anything other than what she believes in- money, power, and guns. She's pacified those annoying bits of memories that float to the surface every once in a while during the quiet times with cigarettes and music loud enough to drown out those voices from so long ago, those scenes. The bitter shame. She couldn't sleep without her tv and headphones on. Revy had long thought that she's perfected her defenses. In order to survive this long, she's had to look out for number one always, because nobody else gives a shit. Then before she knew it, her castle walls got blown to hell by one man, one job and one conversation. How could he have wanted to save **them** so much he willingly stepped into the darkness to join her and the other miscreations produced courtesy of Roanapurr's shit factory when she needed him on the other side. In the light. That morning when it was all over, she couldn't recognize him. It wasn't like he did it for the money either. His words came back to her head like an echo.

 _"It's my hobby."_

He did the same thing with that Washimi heiress too. So what did that make her?

 _No, no just...just enjoy this._ Revy thought, her head back, eyes closed. _Think about that later._ She commanded herself. But still, the memories were coming up like a spring in her head. Why now?!

 _"You believe him to be blameless and innocent."_ That conversation with the mini maid popped up _. "But he's not."_

After exchanging heated words, to the point where Revy had drawn her gun, the girl had kicked at Revy's anthill, unleashing the horrors of her past from just a few words. Painting into color what she's been hiding and ignoring for longer than she could remember.

 _"...You're the one that thinks this world is a garden of roses,"_ Fabiola had retorted when Revy basically called her deluded and seeing this rotted world as a garden. _"One that you've been banished from. Locked out of and you hate that other people, normal people,_ gets _access to what you should have."_

Though Revy had played it off as nothing at the time until she was out of sight and never would have admitted it even under torture, the girl had nailed her dead to rights.

Her cigarettes were in her short's pocket, in the bathroom. No pacifier for her bad memories within arm's length and she didn't want to break the rhythm they had going.

"Rock...!" Revy cried softly, her voice saturated with need and something else. "More. Suck harder baby. Make...make me cum. Make it good to make me scream."

To herself, she thought. _Make me forget, please._

"I will," Rock replied still on his knees before her worshipping her body with his mouth. His tone like a promise as good as done.

How could she want this from him so much?

Was it because again and again, Rock had failed to act as she predicted? It had angered and humiliated her that every time she hit or insulted him, he'd either wanted to talk about it or he'd held her down but not retaliated against her. He'd behaved like a, a gentleman- _euphemism for pussy!_ Which has to be some sort of act because no man is like that. Ever since she was a kid and all through her life, instinctually, its the human code; if you get hit, you hit back. You ran your mouth too much and you get a five-palmer against the face or a knuckle sandwich. You don't get ignored or a simple "Revy stop it."

Humiliation. Yet another unfamiliar feeling. She dished out the humiliations, it was _not_ the other way around.

Revy felt a finger skimming over her clit hood piercing and her thoughts blanked for long seconds. She looked down and met obsidian eyes watching her as his fingers parted her folds. Skillful hot lips on her flesh, working her there. Revy is possessive by nature and she wanted her due.

Why _should_ she allow her past to rob her of this? Why should she care about anything than what they're doing right now? The questions seemed silly in her head. The thoughts plaguing her mind- more like interrupting- paused as she watched Rock suck and tug on and in between her folds. That masterful tongue of his traced the outer lips of her pussy.

 _Put it inside me. oh! I want it inside me. Stabbing my core._

"I love the way you taste." He whispered to her. His voice was a rough accented sexy rumble. He could tell her crap and she might damp her panties.

 _Fuck!_ She thought in awe.

Before she had time to blink, Rock was on his feet breaking her hold on his hair while his grip tightens on her ass. Then _her feet_ were no longer touching the ground. As she was lifted, she felt like she was watching all of this from high above them. She didn't feel like herself. That sense of assurity disappeared the moment the skin of her naked ass touched the cold kitchen counter. Her heated needs cooled rapidly as shivers of dread skittered up and down her spine, paralyzing her and all at once she was not in Rock's apartment any longer.

When an inward pleading started within her, Revy burned with a shame so virulent at her own pathetic thoughts, she felt like she was choking on it but that didn't stop them from coming to her head anyway,

 _No, no, no..._ She thought over and over again until her lips manifested the word.

"No!" Panic strangled most of the sound, reducing it to a soft cry.

One after another, they came. Questions on the heels of questions turning slowly but surely into accusations.

 _This shouldn't be happening. How could I have allowed this to reach so far? Why did I let it start in the first place?_

Under the warm press of a hand, her naked back met the cool slab of tile on the counter; so similar to that last time. Suddenly, she felt like a helpless teenage Rebecca Lee, cuffed and trapped. Weak! Unable to do anything. She had no power.

Another man was touching her, having his way with her because he thought that she's just someone he could fuck.

 _A whore!_

She heard words in her ears trying to tell her something but the memories, those _horrible_ memories wouldn't be denied. How can they be so damn strong after so long? Robbing her again. She heard her own breaths start to hitch, her heart drumming in her ears. As if on automatic, her legs clamp shut. Revy shook her head in that way she did when she wanted to dislodge a thought from her brain

 _My guns. I... I need my guns._

The questions in her head warred with what her body was telling her to do, her feelings on the matter entered into the realm of confusion. On one hand, she wanted this between them. On the other, she didn't know if what she wanted was what she should have. Like a tormented soul, her past was determined to ruin her present. Was she going to lose to it once more?

As if he could pick up on the frequency of her thoughts, Rock whispered to her slowly, "Let me in, Revy."

"Rock?" Despite his cunning and intellect, Rock would never know the battle she was fighting, even at this moment. He could never understand how much she's still captured by the hole inside her, formed from her earliest years of childhood and growing bigger and bigger until it was a pit. Dark and entrapping. What was she supposed to do? Do a one night stand with him? _Never._ Hope for a relationship that was a pie in the sky dream? They would never work. It was just she, herself and her. Rebecca Lee. Two-hands. Revy. Always had been. Three broken mirrors glued together into what she was now, a member of the walking dead in Roanapurr but she could still see all the cracks.

He puts his mouth on one knee then started kissing again, his intent clear.

"Part those pretty thighs for me, my darling." Another kiss. "and I'll make it better." Kiss. "And better."

Why was he saying this? Again, she narrowed her eyes up at him. Something in her warning her but she shook it away. _No, he couldn't know about...that._

"Until I make _my sexy_ **bitch scream**."


	13. Chapter 13

**Part One**

It wasn't anything personal at least she didn't see it that way but it was just that you couldn't get to her level with trust.

Balalaika released her trap cigar smoke from her mouth smoothly. This was an afternoon of leisure, she supposed. And by leisure, she meant that there were no immediate plans for 'control chaos', no one to kill (not yet) and that left her to do some surveillance work. Not her first but that didn't mean she necessarily liked it. The subject of her spying had left her stronghold only hours before and until he got his little visitor, he wasn't really doing anything she didn't expect. Again, nothing personal, Balalaika didn't trust just anyone. She had a feeling Rock wasn't the type of man to divulge information of any nature especially sensitive information but a feeling is not a fact and she wasn't one for that sort of thing anyhow. The arrangement for him to get a nice apartment was her way of keeping him in check. She watched and listened to his and Revy's exchanged via the mini cameras in the bedroom ac unit and the ones installed in the lighting in the kitchen. Admittedly, it wasn't a bad show for a leisurely afternoon.

"My, my, Rock, what will you do now?" She asked the screen crossing her legs as she puffs another cloud of smoke.

* * *

Rock...

Sitting on the side of the double bed, Rock tried not to show just how he was feeling right now. What expression does one show while experiencing the full onslaught of one's own disappointment? How do you express a ('kicking-myself-because-I-knew-that-this-would-happen-but-I-still-didn't-follow-my- instincts') face? Though that didn't stop him from getting caught up like he had when he knew what going to happen. Felt-it-in-his-bones knew it!

Plus, there was pain. Lots and lots of pain and in more than one places singing in his body; the bruises on his back, for example, are still humming from when it came in contact with the wall so hard the impact jarred his teeth!

He ran his hand through his hair willing himself to _calm the hell down._ He didn't like getting angry because he lost control of his emotions so easily, an uncomfortable position for any man to be in but it was more from a cultural stand-point for Rock since he's been brought up to keep a tight reign on them. Being emotionally charged will make him reckless and that is not what he was going for right now.

One deep breath followed another.

He had to resist the pull to palm his face with his hands and _yell_ until his throat was raw and his chest was emptied of the frustration that seems to coil tighter and tighter as the agonizing seconds of silence ticked on in his apartment. Maybe he would do that later when he was alone and instead of his hands, use a pillow to muffle the long-winded screams he was saving up.

 _Control. **Control**!_ He commanded himself again and again but it felt like he was getting nowhere.

This wasn't the first time he's had to tell himself those exact words in so many minutes but now, the whole situation was just fucked up. Damn it! What was it about him that keeps landing him in these type of circumstances?

The scar on his right thigh throbbed and he tried to ignore it. Ignore the memory that came with it.

He'd pleasured her with his hands and mouth and it was enjoyable for both of them. He had her moaning and begging him not to stop. That was evidence enough right? That it wasn't just his opinion or male pride fooling him.

Gently, he'd stroked her until she'd asked him to make her cum then he had delivered. He took the painstaking effort to see to her needs while denying everything within himself to pin her to the damn wall and wrap her legs around his waist or to rip his clothes off, lift her into his arms, carry her to his bed then sink himself so deep within her sweet little body until he couldn't tell where he started and she began. He wasn't the one that started all of this either! He hadn't wanted this and then he _did_. So help him he really did! Damn her for tempting him like this! For letting him get a feel of what it would be like...

 _Fuck!_ Rock cursed himself again and again in his mind, his frustration bruising him more than his back suffered as the feeling of failure weighed down heavily on him like gravity. _He_ **hates** that feeling. Especially since he went all out.

His experiences with people had left him jaded, turning him into a cautious man that didn't give his trust easily or expose himself to someone, much more letting his guard down like he had when he doesn't normally...

Calm? He felt only the opposite.

 _Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!_

The object of his torment came to the door, casually leaning against the frame with a cigarette in her mouth. He needed one too. Badly! But he would get his own. Right now, he didn't want anything from her. Hell, he didn't feel like being in his own space because she was here.

Revy wrapped the towel around her this time, tucking the tail between her breasts securely.

 _Those breasts._

Damn it! His tongue was still tingling from sucking her nipples. Involuntarily, his fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, his fingers itching for the feel of them once more. The fact that he was still hard for her was helping him none.

 _Mistake_.

Yes, this was one big mistake. The very thing he should have avoided like the plague; had known _to_ avoid. He made an effort to control his hands by planting them into the sheet but his persistent erection was another matter entirely. He wished it would wane. Obviously, there was no more possibility of them having sex, though his raging cock-stand stubbornly refuses to believe it.

Rock turned his head to the side, the deep green of the bedroom wall suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world to him.

"So that's it?" Revy said after several moments had passed, effectively breaking the silence that hovered between them. "What now? You gonna sulk?" She scoffed disdainfully and Rock felt like he wanted to punch something. Unusual for him.

When he said nothing she continued to monologue, her arrogance growing more rambunctious by the second; grating on his nerves and jabbing him in his pride.

"Do your balls hurt or something?" She jeered as she expelled a puff of smoke.

They did fucking hurt. His ego was taking hit after hit and he was sick of it.

"What do you want me to say?" He asked finally still watching the green-wall channel. All green, all the time. No interruptions, ever. "Congratulations Revy, you got me? You...won?"

Turning away he attempted to stand and had to bit back a yell of pain as the weight of his balls hung suspended sent a jolt of punishment to his brain then back again and it fully set in that they were probably as blue as blueberries right now if the pain was any indication. Not surprising. At the time when he had her on the counter spread before him like an offering, the pressure to cum until his vision went dark grew nearly irresistible but like an idiot he resisted. Now he was paying the price for denying himself for her sake.

 _And **This** is what I crossed my line for? _The mental-ass-kicking continued. _Idiot! I'm such an idiot!_

Again, deep breath. Control. By some miracle, he managed to stand up straight and walk a few paces to the window as if nothing was wrong just to get as far away from her as possible within the confines of his room.

Out of habit he tried to put his hands in his pockets (something he did to hide his fisted hands. The thumbs pressing into his palms so much that they numbed) - the first sign that he was becoming angrier. He didn't like being taken for a fool. No one did. No man likes to be promised sex, especially if he didn't initiate it, and just when things were getting good, he got a mule kick sending him into the wall.

 _Control. Control Rock!_

But his chest was heaving. He was on a knife's edge. _Tamp it down, Okajima._ The last resort. He didn't think of his old self any more unless he backed himself in a corner mentally, a way of threatening himself to break out of a clinch then f.i.t.f.o like there's no tomorrow. Isn't that what he said he was going to do while he was in the grips of desire. Near madden with it?

After a few more breaths and thumb-numbing, he was near calm. Someone had to keep a level head here and if not him then who? There was nothing he could do about what was already done. Best to push forward.

"Can't believe I let someone like _you_ , of all people, touch me like that." Revy murmured to herself. He almost wished that he hadn't heard that. The scorn in her tone mixed in with probably all the disgust she could muster in one breath. Her words sounded tinge with shame and it was enough to push him over the edge.

"Someone like me?" He repeated slowly, almost dumbly because that was the absolute worst thing she could have ever said to him. He turned to face her then, unable to stop the bile from surging in his throat and this time he couldn't ignore the memory of Kari. Her laughing face coming back to his mind as he clutched his bleeding thigh; the knife narrowly missing a vital artery. Blood lost making his vision swam.

 _"Did you really believe I could ever willingly want someone like you touching me?"_ She'd said standing over him.

The collective pain in his body faded to a dull hum replaced with a rage that filled him so abruptly it frightened him and before he knew what was happening, he was stomping to the top of his bed and reaching under his pillow. A heartbeat later, her gun holster was fisted in his hand.

Revy's eyes went wide then narrowed in comprehension; in preparation for what's to come next. Somewhere in her eyes, he recognized the exact moment when she decided that she was going to kill him. Saw the survivor in her awakened. But she didn't know what he was going to do. Hells, _he_ didn't even know what he was going to do.

"Get. Out!" He whispered menacingly through very clenched teeth but loud enough for the words to carry between them.

A corner of her mouth broaden for a split second- not a smile- more like a barring of her teeth. A challenge. "Rocky-boy angry?" She said mockingly, tilting her head at him, seizing him up. Her eyes were focusing on his limbs- mostly his shoulders and shifting at times to his feet. To his credit, Rock didn't rise to the bait though on his free hand his thumb did get some play. He did his best to keep her in sight as one does with any unpredictable dangerous beast.

How the hell did they move from where they were ten minutes ago to this? They could have been in his bed right now enjoying each other, pleasuring one another. He hated that they were like this. He hated that his indelible memory will recall every detail of this evening, of her skin from this day forward. The taste of her will never fade from his mind- _great, now I'll have scent and taste memory_. Neither will it allow him to forget how she reacted to him just minutes before, melting for him in abandon...

The leather of the holster prevented the guns from scraping against the tile floor; instead, the sound of a thud was produced when Rock tossed the weapons at her feet. A few feelings played out across her face when he did; surprise, confusion, anger, before it settled on cocky-malice. Victory in the depths of those dead-eyes.

"You're a fucking idiot." She told him time matter-of-factly as she bends and picks up her weapons. Her eyes locked on him like prey.

"No, you are." Rock quipped softly earning him a nasty stare.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" She asked, one gun already out of its cradle. The safety was still on but he knew that was relative.

"I asked you to leave," Rock's monotone was dismissive,"

"Are you...? " She spluttered for a moment before she collected herself. As if what he said before had just registered she asked in a disbelieving tone. "Are you seriously kicking me out like I'm some two-dollar- hour whore on the corner after finger-fucking me and licking my pussy?" Revy said in the coldest, most foreboding tone he's ever heard. That should have warned him, and it did but he just didn't care anymore.

"You have everything you want, right? Your guns. And they are all you need in this world, aren't they?" Sarcasm laced his hard voice.

To say the tension was thick in the room would be seriously understating the potency.

After an endless moment of silence, Rock sat on the edge of the bed once more, opposite from where Revy stood in the doorway seething. The pain winning out, he was unable to fake it any longer. There was no bedhead so he rested his back against the wall at a ninety-degree angle; the cool concrete soaked through the thin cotton of the marina- then he fixed her with his own stare.

"Personally, I pity you, Revy."

Her eyes widen to the size of saucers and a growl emanated from her throat. Yes, she actually fucking growled at him like a goddamn animal; her tattooed arm shot up before the word 'Pity' completely left his tongue- gun cocked and aimed. Her voice halting pushed the words out as if with difficulty. "You... fucking...cock sucker."

As if he didn't hear her or notice the gun aiming at him, Rock continued seamlessly, "That's right, _someone like me,"_ He emphasized each word slowly, deliberately, " **Feels sorry for you**."

A few inches from the left side of his head, bits of green paint and plaster erupted from the new hole that opened up in the wall; her gun smoking. Rock didn't even flinch. He expected her reaction even to the point that she will shoot him. He was so pissed.

"You motherfucking-son-of-a-bitch!" Her violent tone was barely above a whisper. "I'll fucking kill you, Rock, don't think that I won't! " She spat vehemently, fire flashing in her eyes making them more alive than he's ever seen them.

The sound of a gunshot didn't leave the other occupants of his apartment building unperturbed. Muffled voices filled with alarm sounded from the hallway. Doors opened and closed as nosy neighbors were either poking their head out in curiosity or shutting themselves in, in fear.

"You would, wouldn't you." He stated resolutely, "You would kill the only person who is trying to understand you. The man and possibly the _**only** _man, if given the chance, wants to genuinely make you happy." He leaned in before looking deep into her eyes then asking in that same slowly uncaring soft tone "How is that not pitiably?"

"Shut your fucking mouth!" She screamed before another shot pierced the silence of the room.


	14. Chapter 14

**Part two**

 **Ten minutes prior...**

Rock...

 _Calm the fuck down,_

Easier thought than done, not when he felt almost giddy.

From her taste alone, Rock had to squeeze his cockhead so tightly, twice already, to keep from coming all over his kitchen floor; basically putting a countermeasure in place to prevent his body from doing what it felt nigh compelled to do, all the while ignoring the grating need to dispense himself of the increasing pressure steadily turning to pain in his cock and balls just to last a little longer.

How long has it been since he's gotten to a state like this? Entrenched in need like this? Kami alive! Has his shaft ever been so hard?

A shudder came over him. _Never._

Not even in his most fevered fantasies with _his_ Beck, that secret nickname for Revy only he and his old hotel room walls knew about since he often shouted it in hissing whispers while spending himself raw.

Coming now would only forfeit him of everything. Besides if he did come (with the amount of pressure in his balls), it wasn't a guarantee that he wouldn't be comatose afterward. At the very least, he would be weakened severely given the little sleep he'd managed to get and the presence of zero food in his body. Logically, coming now, though momentarily mind-scrabbling, wouldn't fulfill the needs he's felt ever since he began fantasizing about Revy, about touching her, slipping himself inside her inch by pleasurable inch until he was buried to the hilt of his cock. He never believed that he would get this chance but now that he's had a sample, he wanted more.

What would that be like? God almighty, he wanted to know! He had to discover this with her.

As for his control? Whatever was left of it was being siphoned off little by little with each breath he took in. The smell of her sex wafting up to his nostrils from his lips kept his body thrumming with tension, like a pluck guitar string, one percussion away from being pushed over the edge of oblivion.

Was it selfish of him to want more from her? To want so badly to be with her, moving inside her as she seems to promise? Or was it foolish?

Revy chose that moment to rest her heels on his shoulders and a scene from a dream opened right before him. An involuntary moan erupted from his throat watching her sex, like glistening petals, reveal her secret garden to him. Pink and swollen with need, and wet from her dew and his hungry kisses. His mind blanked for a second.

" **Utsukushii** ," Rock bit out a carnal whisper in his native tongue, unable to stop the word from spilling out. **Beautiful**.

That piercing glinted like a tempting treasure just above her sensitive bud under the Fluorescent light.

 _Those bared plump lips_. He thought caught up in the revelry of a desire so scorching, it threatened to consume him utterly. It burned away any misgivings still hindering him from giving all that he is to this between them then immediately began feeding on tatters of his ragged control with every lingering moment they shared; the promise of something more forthcoming as she spread her legs for him.

A fantasy materializing into the real world.

 _Don't take this away from me. I need this. I want this so much with you, Revy!_

Where had that thought come from? For that matter, why was he feeling so possessive of her? Was that normal? Never happened before during other times.

Though he's tasted her, inhaled her delicious scent into himself and seen her up close, this was another angle. Like a new discovery.

How maddening it is not to tilt his hips up, to not drag her to the edge of the kitchen counter then feed his fisted cock pass her entrance, watch it slide into wet inviting heat...but he knew he had to go slow. Agonizing though it is he had to prepare her. If he wanted to witness her coming for around his fingers, feel her around his shaft, he knows damn well that he must wait a little longer. For the most opportune moment.

This was a gamble like he's never played before with the odds stacked heavily against him but if he could manage to coax her from her fears, to show her that this act between them can be pleasurable. Didn't have to be anything but...

A surge of pressure pushed to the fore but again he ruthlessly tamped it back down. Was it a good move to forfeit that bliss of spending himself raw though he perceived the tremors that emanated from her in waves; impossible not to notice the painstaking way her legs had opened up to show him this side of herself in contrast to the way other women's knees would have fallen apart, begging for more. Not to toot his own horn but you can't argue with screams and moans, and desperate whispers of "more, please don't stop."

 _She's not just another woman._

No matter what gruff front she put up, Revy was still frightened. Her sexual experience with men had been horrible, taken by force and she needs to know that not all men are like that. That **_he_ **wasn't like that.

An errant thought of Kari Hinamori filtered through the lust hitting him like a double punch to the gut for a moment but he shook it away.

 _Don't think about that._

Eyes riveted on her sex, one of his hands held himself in check below the counter while the other investigated the skin of her torso, fingers stretching to the edge of high full breasts before retreating lower and lower down her body. Rock hissed in a deep breath to calm down his racing heart. Damn, if it didn't feel good to be invited.

 _Steady. Don't scare her._

Doubt was still there, lingering in the back of his mind but he was getting better and better at ignoring it especially when his fingers reached their destination. Their eyes met and held as his forefinger swirled around her entrance once then again. Rock bit into his bottom lip as he let the digit slip inside her core. So hot. _So_ wet. By this time he was all but strangling his cock. Her glove around his finger. Slipping it out, he encircled her clit with his drenched finger, earning a moan.

"Put it back in," Revy demanded with mewed protest. "Want it back in, Rock."

"Don't say things like that to me," He whispers pantingly, "You set my imagination on fire when you tell me things like that."

His hand worked his cock under the counter, his upper arm muscle bulging as he stroked himself. Revy noticed then grinned at him devilishly, pleased that she had such an effect on him. Just for that, he did reinsert his finger then slipped it out again. Before she could protest, he slipped two fingers in.

Revy moaned and cried out as he thumbs her clit mercilessly while his other fingers thrust, curls and tickles her channel seeking that spot. And when he did?

"Rock! Don't stop! Don't. Uh!" She demanded urgently as she squirmed, "if you stop I'll kill you!"

It was his time to grin. "Wouldn't dare." He managed in a strained whisper. "Want to see you come. Want to feel you around my fingers." He bit into his lip again groaning as she started to move her hips up, twisting and undulating against his touch. He wanted to suck or pinch her arching breasts but his present angle kept him away from them.

 _Later._ He promised himself.

As if she feared that he would pull his fingers out prematurely, Revy grabbed on to his wrist, keeping a firm grip as she rocked faster and harder as he rubbed that rough spot again and again. Her heels digging into his shoulder for purchase.

 _Never thought one part of my body could be so jealous of the other_. He thought as his cock throbbed in anticipation.

He bit out something in Japanese, realizing only that he was when speaking his native tongue when Revy asked breathlessly, "What?" before she became uncaring again, riding his fingers in a frenzied rhythm.

Unconsciously speaking in his first language? Yeah, he was really deep into this.

"Come for me," He commanded as the walls of her sex began tightening. Her head began to thrash, hips almost bouncing as she moved more feverishly. "Oh God! I-I feel you." voice gone hoarse with lust, he told her "My darling you're close... wanna taste you coming... on my tongue."

Not waiting for permission, he crouched letting her heels find his lower back for support, his fingers still working her little sheath. As she started to come, he had to pry her hand away from his before covering her swollen pink bud with his mouth, feasting.

Revy screamed. "Uh! Aah! Rock! Oh, fuck! Rock!.

Unwilling to let even a second of this pass him by, he bared witness to Revy in this state, enthralled.

Frantic fingers clutched his hair one moment before they travel up to erect nipples; petting and squeezing aching breasts. Her back arching as she bucked against his mouth like she was possessed. Her legs opted for the edge of the counter as her knees fell apart. Her orgasm making her wild, uncaring in her pleasure. He had done this to her and fuck, if his ego wasn't bowing pridefully before, it sure as hell was now. It felt so good watching his Beck unhinged. It satisfied him in untold ways knowing that he had her in abandon like this (almost his undoing). Almost breaking his 'no coming rule'. At some point, he had to steady her with his hands to prevent her from squirming away from his insistent tongue.

When she could manage words again, Revy begged him weakly, "Rock no," but he wasn't about to give her any quarter, their eyes locked on each other for a second before her head fell back; writhing in the aftermath of her climax. Too spent to protest any more than that.

"No?" Rock asked coyly before he licked slowly from her core to clit and back, sending her hips bucking for a moment. The sounds she made pleasing him in so many ways.

"You bastard," Revy's voice was shaking. "Stop licking me... like...that." She argued before she moaned again, bucking her hips up to his mouth.

He chuckled earnestly. "You're not doing a very good job at convincing me that you _want_ me to stop."

Before she could utter another word, he lifted her supine form so that she was at an angle until the only part of her lower body that had contact with the kitchen counter were her toes.

"What the fuck!" Revy complained, alarm in her tone.

He ignored her fabled panicked protest, one large palm supporting her lower back as he brought her hips up like a bowl to his lips. His tongue dipped once again and swirled as she widens her thighs more to accept him, his lips suckled harder as deeply satisfied moans erupted from his chest. Her protests promptly turned into insistance. Her breaths hitching.

"Oh, oh fuck! Don't s-s-stop, I'm... going to...again, Rock!"

Was it supposed to feel so satisfying to hear her call out his name like that? He sucked more just to listen to her panting breaths, feel her quiver against him as her orgasm violently washing over her again in wave after explosive wave.

Once she'd stop screaming for the second time, Rock settled her back onto the counter surface. His eyes roam over his handy work greedily, still crouched between her open knees, he nuzzled her skin with his face, kissing her in places he's only fantasized about until today.

"God, you taste so incredible, I could feed on your sweet honey morning, noon and night."

Another long lick elicited another moan from her. His hot breaths fanning over her sensitive flesh making her shiver. She had come twice, explosively and screaming his name. Fuck! that was sexy to him. Moreover, her sunkissed skin had grown goosebump from over stimulation and looking at her like that was triggering something in him, something he's been holding back but now he was shaking from his restraint.

"I want you so much," Rock confessed in a whisper against her wet folds, in-between licks and kisses, he surrendered utterly in a haze of lust, "I've never wanted anyone more than the way I want you. Revy, I crave you! Do you want me too?"

He straightened to his full height slowly, kissing her taut thigh to her knee on his way up. He bore his dark eyes into hers when he told her, " Because right now, I -I _**need** _to be inside you."

She said nothing neither did she do anything to indicate what she was thinking. Still dazed from her releases? He couldn't know. So Rock did the next thing his lust-addled mind nudged him on to do. Slipping his boxers down his legs then stepped out of them, he gently as best as he could, closed the distance between their bodies, lifting his hips up to aline with her center. Carefully, he brought the head of his member to her entrance, hissing at the contact of their skins. His eyes closing briefly of their volition. When he opened them again, he was just in time to watch as something unreadable flashed across her eyes so quickly that for a second, he thought he imagined it.

 _Revy don't stop this now._ He pleaded internally as they stared at each other in that twilight.

Rock is a proud man, he doesn't beg for anything, would rather do without but she's gotten him to a state where the word tumbled out of his panting mouth seemingly of its own accord.

"Please,"

He didn't know the exact moment when he went up on the balls of his feet or when he had made the decision to rub the head of his cock up and down from her folds to her core. Their breaths were audible; the anticipation thick in the air, baited by what could happen next.

"Do you, " He inhaled a shaky breath again then grunted as sensations rocked him. The fuck he was going to cum like this when he was so close. "Do you want us to...Revy?...I-I won't do anything unless you want me to. I want this to be something we both can enjoy. Don't you?" In a barely audible whisper, he said, " Say yes"

If he trusted his patience, he would have lifted her in his arms, taking her to his bed, rip off his marina then climb on top of her. He would have taken her mouth as he entered her as he's fantasized about doing again and again. For god sakes, he didn't even have a condom yet found himself pulling her closer to the edge of the counter, bitting down on his bottom lip so hard he tasted blood in his mouth.

Oblivion was so close. So close to what felt like a possible cataclysmic orgasm.

"Try to relax," Rock instructed when he felt her supple muscles tense, his own voice strained even to himself. "I won't hurt you. Never hurt you."

His hazy mind perceived when her feet rested on his shoulders again, her knees bent at an angle. Reception?

"That's it! Yes, that's it," He rasped hoarsely. The head of his cock positioned at her core already coated with her juices from him rubbing and encircling her entrance. About to push his way inside...

Rock didn't even have time to tense for the attack.

 **Now...**

Rock made his mien insouciant as she pointed the gun at him. He's seen this situation between them so many times already it was bordering on fatuous- at least it would have been if: he wasn't mentally tired and sexually frustrated and if he wasn't suffering withdrawal from lack of attention to his habits during a stressful enervated position like what he's finds himself in at the moment-(when his balls feel like they've been battered by a sledgehammer and his head pounds as if to the rhythm of a spiteful drum.) Add that to the fact that he's hungry because Revy broke into his apartment and ate all of his food!

All of that and he still lost the gamble. He almost laughed at himself for being so stupid.

Sitting, he watched as Revy's temper level up like the thunderhead cloud of a shit storm and couldn't help but wonder when she noticed it. Right about now, he guessed since he was still alive. Her expression telling.

"I'm not ready to die just yet, Revy." Rock quipped, smug that he took her down a peg.

"Asshole," She spat hefting the weapon, then pulled the trigger on both of them a few times before finally making a frustrated sound. The single bullet that was in the chamber she'd wasted it in a warning shot murdering the wall. That last shot was just an empty shell. He learned from experience with that one from when Fabiola had cracked his ribs.

"You were so angry you couldn't tell that I took out the magazines? Rock asked amazed, one brow cocked, "I told you before, I won't stand for you hurting me."

"Where are they?"

As if he was going to tell her that.

A predicament like no other, this situation. Rock chewed over his options as they stared down each other. Well, while he stared at her and she threatened him.

"I will tear this fucking place apart, Rock."

Can't kick her out- _She'll just break in again_. Can't give her magazines to make her leave - _Since she'll kill me at the first opportunity_. Then there was only one thing to do.

Standing again, he made his way to a corner of his bedroom where he had his worn clothes in a plastic bag neatly folded. They were dirty from the usual sweat but he didn't have much choice. Of course, she would try and stop him but if there was anything that could hold a candle to the strongest parts of his personality, it would be his stubbornness. When he decided on something, there was little that could stop him short of death.

Slowly, he started to dress. Needless to say, this wasn't going over well with the enraged female now stomping towards him, gun in hand. They were about to have another altercation. No matter. He was leaving. He didn't even want to think about what the place will look like when he came back- a shame since he really liked it, had a lot of plans in his head on how he could improve his new space.

"And where the fuck do you think you're going?."

"Shopping for new locks." He answered indifferently as he buttoned up his shirt. Little by little, he was acclimating to the pain.

It occurred to Rock, that he was employing a behavior his father usually reserved for him in the rear moments they spoke back in Japan. A cold demeanor, expectations, and results or nothing at all. Not the relationship between a father and a son. He's formed closer bonds with strangers on the street.

He inhaled deeply, tamping down that pain. If he ever became a father, he would never treat his children like was he treated. Never.

A shadow flickered before his face and his hand shot up just in time to catch her wrist, fist balled. He caught the other as well.

"Are we going to do this again, Revy?" Rock asked struggling. He stepped into her space, putting his thigh across her knees, using his body weight to press her into the wall. He slapped her wrist against the concrete hard enough to release the gun from her grip.

Revy grunted out in pain.

"I'm not some fucking streetwalker, you bastard." Another sound of frustration came as she pushed against his hold and found that he didn't budge. "Who the fuck do you think you are? Think you can just use me then get dress and walk out! Dismiss me like some common whore!"

Rock lost his temper.

"Are you an expensive whore then?" He heard how callous his tone sounded but he was past the point of caring any longer. "An escort maybe? Do you see me with my wallet out? Huh? Did I call you over here to fuck you, Revy? No! I didn't you invite over! Do you hear me asking you how much? Tell me, what's the going rate, Revy?! Because. I. Wouldn't. Know. Why can't you see that I am not that type of man?" He pressed himself into her more. " What is the fucking point, Revy? What was the point of all of this? Breaking in, harassing me. Was it to shoot me? To show me that you have power over me?"

"Fuck you!" She struggled. "You don't know shit about me!

"You don't know shit about me either!" He shot back, screaming at her. "If you did, you couldn't possibly see me as like some loser scum who can't get it any other way than to buy or take it by force!"

"Get off me."

Barely hearing her, Rock continued to let her have the brunt of his anger. "I'm sick of this thing between us! What am I to you? Your personal punching bag? Someone you can take a shot at whenever the need rises up? No thanks! Being playing that role for most of all my life and I'm sick of it! I'm no longer that person!

He pushed away from her finally then grabbed his pants, stabbing one leg in before hopping to the bedside to find his shoes. His throat felt dry from yelling, his emotions still running at an octane level.

"What, what the fuck do you want from me?" He asked, not finished saying his piece and aggressively putting on his clothes. He stomped into a shoe to get it on proper. "What did you come here looking for? Starting something that you couldn't finish? Was it to test if I'm like every man that you've ever known? Abusive, misogynistic assholes who have no clue how treat another human being like a human being? Or maybe you wanted to find out if I'm like those cops who raped you?!"

Rock regret the words as soon as they left his mouth.


	15. Chapter 15

Revy...

She shook from her anger as the seconds ticked on, physically frozen to the spot. She felt her heart hammering in her chest, her head started pounding like she was experiencing the mother of all hangovers. One problem, she wasn't drunk or drinking and this was really happening.

Around her, it seems like time swirled indifferently though she felt emotionally stunted. Dead! For the briefest of moments, she felt actually dead. Her breaths sounded loudly in her ears as she stared at the man who ripped off the flimsy bandaid that had held her together. The thing that had kept the worst of her demons locked away just under the cardboard cover of her blood box, quieted momentarily by liquor and smokes. And he'd just...

She couldn't quite get enough air. Revy's vision blurred from unshed tears she's refused for so long. She didn't even allow herself to cry in prison when it got really tough or when she got shot, burned or stabbed. Not even during the times when she was abused and devalued as a human being; not even then did she cry. But now the tears were burning at the edges of her eyelids as they stared at one another, both wondering what the other would do next.

The son of a bitch's face looked as shocked as she felt. His expression explaining what his wordless lips failed to utter. It didn't matter. Whatever the hell he had to say it wouldn't reach her over the deafening sounds of her own blood roaring in her ears.

The bitterest shame she's ever felt (was still feeling) so raw she didn't know how to deal with that emotion except with rage, violence, and murder.

The demand "how the fuck did you know that?" "Who told you?" physically couldn't pass her lips over the lump that had formed in her throat. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she already knew the answers because no one could have told him. Because she had never told anyone. The little shit figured it out somehow.

Hatred for Rock lanced through her so strongly that it felt like something inside of her was warring to get out.

Always, he was like this! Digging, digging, digging for information. Never leaving well enough alone. She felt stupid, so stupid for allowing him to put his hands on her. For thinking of him as different than the rest. She could just imagine what he was thinking, how much he must have thought of her as a little dysfunctional charity case that he could apply his half ass efforts to in order to save.

His fucking stupid hobby.

 _Won't cry in front of him. I'm gonna make him fucking regret this!_

"Revy... I didn't mean..." Rock started to say,

"You wanna make me happy, Rock?" Revy found herself saying with dangerous softness in her trembling voice. Then she was running towards him before neither of them knew it, tackling him. The bastard didn't even have time to react as her fists went flying. One hit followed another then another. Their bodies collapsing onto the bed with her on top naked. The towel became untied in the squirmish as they fought. Don't care! **_Don't fucking care._ **

Forget the guns, she was going to enjoy killing him with her own two hands ** _!_**

At Rock's words, a feeling akin to a rusty knife slicing her from throat to stomach powered through her body like the rush of a blistering ocean of mixed emotions: shame, guilt, disgust, her own pathetic weakness on display, all of them stabbing her at once.

Shards from a broken mirror with an even uglier reflection. From just a few words and a mountain of pain and anguish shattered inside her. She no longer felt like _a person._

 ** _I'm not a person. I'm Revy, I'm Two-Hands because of him. Because of them!_**

She heard herself screaming unintelligible words, saw Rock under her trying to block her relentless attacks to his face, head and any other vulnerable places she could find. There was blood on her fists, there was blood on his face. Rock hollowed in pain when she landed a blow where Fabiola had shot him and fracture a few of his ribs just three months before.

"Fucking die for me then!" _. She screamed_

Unbidden, the memories of that morning after happened in the middle of all this and Revy felt like she wanted to puke or cry as acrid sensations jostle her.

 _It feels like I'm suffocating. Drowning!_

Even now, they were as formidable as ever even after all these years. Memories strong enough to break her down no matter how much she wanted them to go away. To stop.

 _Please, please just stop. Stop!_

To the backdrop sounds of Rock's painful yells, her screaming and the thud of fists hitting flesh, Revy relived the terrors of her abysmal past as vividly as the day it happened.

The morning was still early when she exited the precinct via the same way she came in; her long-sleeved hoodie up to hide the bruises, the mouth of a gun digging into her ribs as she was escorted from the building.

"One word out of your little whore mouth and I'll make sure you never make a sound again, we clear, bitch?" Her rapist threatened under his breath. The feel of his hand disgusted her. To be near him made her almost want to make a sound, to scream out and expose him for what he was and he could kill her right then, right there on the spot. She almost preferred death to him touching anywhere on her body. But as she looked around the early morning staff, there were sleepy faces, (some actually sleeping), their propped up palms or folded forearms commissioned as pillows. Would it make a difference if she did make a scene then died for it? No one cared while she was getting raped last night in a dingy rank cell. The cameras were directly pointing in her direction but no one came to the rescue. The thought of someone else in this shithole place knowing about what happened to her just a few hours prior turned her blood to ice in her veins, the humiliation made her throat tight and her eyes began to water. Rebecca kept her head down, fighting down the sobs as her feet moved her closer and closer to the exit in a slow march when she felt like running.

Just a little more. She thought then, though it felt like miles as if hours were leisurely passing by.

She couldn't help replaying the events that brought her to this nightmare over and over in her mind. There were still shards of glass in her ear from the night before when her father, in a drunken rage, shattered a Jack Daniells liquor bottle over her head. Knowing this familiar pattern so well and understanding that this was easiest it was going to get, thirteen-year-old Rebecca Lee fled out the bathroom window, down the back stairsway then sprinted through the alley. She was out breath by the time she made it to the main street curb where she sat with her head on her forearms over her knees. Time passed, people passed, cars passed, some stopped to laugh at her, shining their lights in her face. It all seemed to go blank after the police picked her up, as if her mind refused to relive anything beyond that point, wiped out by the smell of the city as she stepped through the doors of the precinct. The gun and the hand disappeared. She didn't want to be anywhere near there so she ran and ran until she was climbing up the stairs of her apartment building the same way she'd left. It was as if someone had pressed the rewind button on a remote and her life for the last several hours was playing backward only it wasn't really like that. She dearly wished she had a magic remote to undo everything. To go back as far as her birth and just erase it completely.

Climbing through the bathroom window, she slams the glass window shut then leaped to the door, locking it in a frenzy, immediately sliding down the flakey painted wood in a heap on the floor. Violent tremors washing over her uncontrollably, choked sobs hiccuped over the lump in her throat, lips trembling. She had no control over anything. Not her life. Not her body! Nothing.

Powerless.

Stupidly, she'd prayed in her mind to a deaf God as she was being violated to help, to kill the fucker who was raping her. She didn't know why she did it or expected that any miracle would happen. No good has ever come from her praying before, no guardian angel has ever given enough of a fuck to even spit on her.

The plethora of injuries all over her skin throbbed and pulse as her body tried to heal itself. Putting itself back together again. Yet she barely felt them. The way her skin crawled disgustingly drowned out everything else and she wanted to peel it off with her fingernails. She was more angry with the man on the outside of the bathroom door, no doubt passed out on the ratty pissed stained mattress of a bed in the living room, than she had ever been. Of all the times when he'd beaten her, abused her physically to the point of unconsciousness more than a few times, this was the worst.

This was supposed to be her home. She was supposed to have a loving mother and father who buys her shit and helps her with stupid stuff like homework like she's seen on tv ads. She was supposed to be carefree , normal boring life, rebel and scream how her parents just don't understand and they were supposed to be there when she needed them. They were supposed to fucking protect her!

Slowly, Rebecca scraped herself off the floor and started to undress. She couldnt help but wonder if it might have been better if she had stayed last night , played "punching bag" for a couple of hours or lock herself in the bathroom, escape to the roof. Something, anything but this.

She avoided looking at the bruises on her skin, turning her head away from the bathroom mirror as she removes her clothing. Her stomach, parts of her face, shoulders, and thighs were black and blue but the glaring proof of her ordeal sat on the seat of her panties. The white sticky substance that clunged to her flesh churned her empty stomach making her retch.

Stepping into the shower, Rebecca turned the water on, grabbed the soap and started scouring her body. Somewhere in the middle of her rigorously washing, soundless cries began to sob out while tears, a scorching deluge of frustration and blinding humiliation, ran unchecked, acting accordingly under a cold shower with the difference being that she could feel them. It wasn't the temperature of the water why she couldn't stop shaking. No matter how many times she scrubbed her body and between her thighs, it seemed like she could still feel him. Hurting her. Forcing himself inside her again and again. Marking her with his sperm. The blood on her white panties.

"Becky!" Came a shout from the living room. A crashing sound followed then muffled curses. "Where are you, you little bitch!?" The voice asked callously. It was rough from sleep and weak from drowning the sorrows of whatever demons plague a man and drives him to beat his own flesh and blood to a pulp. To nearly kill his wife almost every day until she went to the grocery store one day and never came back.

"Hate him." Rebecca's voice vibrated with rage.

Turning the water off she collected a clean shirt and a pair of jeans from the laundry basket in the corner. Quietly, she unlocked the door then headed to the kitchen. She passed her father undetected, the back of his head facing her way. She looked at him for a moment before putting her plan in action. A decision made solid in her mind.

There was a large pile of dirty dishes in the sink, the handles of utensils sticking out from under the pots, plates, and glasses. It wasn't hard to tell which were the knives but one tug and it would alert her father that she was in the room with him.

"Becky!" He yelled again at the top of his lungs.

She left the kitchen, softly padding to the back room, her room.

In the streets of New York, you can find just about anything. Get anything if you're skilled enough. As she took out the old shoebox from her poor excuse for a closet-one of those plastic wardrobes with the long zipper in the middle-she laid it on the linoleum covered tiles. Her mom had got the colorful mat one day with some money she'd manage to hide from her husband. Later that night, he'd added blood to the pink patterned flowers as he beat his wife for no reason in particular.

Because of him, she didn't have a mom even before she disappeared. Because of him, she couldn't have a normal life like the kids at her school. She hated them because she couldn't talk about her parents or what fun trips she'd been on like they could. She didn't have any friends because it had to be that way.

She opens the shoebox, reached in and pulling a gun out. Anger made her unfeeling. This wasn't courage. It's everything from last night and all the days and nights since she's been made to live in this shithole piled into one raw need to end it.

It's the final straw!

She checked the bullets in the pistol, only three remaining from the time she'd found it behind a dumpster. She'd never used it. Guns were dangerous and loud and even if she could fire off a round or two at empty cans or something, it would have to be on the outskirts of town or in the junkyard near the train tracks, not exactly on her turf and not worth the trip just to waste a couple of bullets when she could use the taxi money for new piercings or food.

Gun in shaking hands, Rebecca silently reentered into the living room. Her father was still stretched out on the bed, his head in the same place. Deliberately, she made a sound to alert him of her presence in the room.

"Becky, get me a fucking drink " he spat still not looking at her. "Now"

She's been missing all night, out on the street and that's the only thing he cared about?

Add it to the list.

She wasn't his daughter, she was just someone that he could use and project his beatings on. Someone he controlled.

No longer!

Her hands stopped shaking. Stepping into his view she kept the gun low moving it to one hand. By this time, she gripped the handle of the gun so tightly her fingers started going numb.

"Whatcha standing there for? Get me a fucking drink, you stupid little idiot! You're worse than your whore of a mother"

"I hate you!" She screamed grabbing a pillow off to the side. She moved quickly while he was too slow to react. The alcohol in his blood made him sluggish. The thought that he was safe as the adult in his own apartment, left him careless.

Revy didn't hesitate. It ended so quickly. Before he could respond. Before she could take another breath, the pillow was covering her father's face and she was squeezing the trigger at point-blank range. Again and again, she ended him until she spent all three bullets.

Breaths heaving as the sound of gunshots rang out, claiming the space. Feathers from the pillow danced in the stale air of gutter mud and blood. Her father's lifeless body. As the realization of what she's just done hit her brain in the wake of adrenaline, she suddenly had the urge to ran. So she did. She ran away never looking back, the gun still clasped in her fingers.

* * *

Because of Rock, she was remembering all of this.

Revy looked down at him and notice that something was off about this situation. He wasn't shielding himself any longer but look up at her bewildered. She heard her breaths hitching, felt like she just got tranquilized or something as a swift numbness invaded her limbs then her entire body. Looking at her hands, she saw her fists barely hitting him to make an impact.

 _Why am I shaking so much?_

Her body didn't feel right. Felt drained as if all her strength was being sucked away.

"Revy?" She hears Rock saying her name, worry in his voice. Why?

A sensation like falling came over her just as black spots peppered her vision. Rock disappeared from under her replaced by the view of the ceiling for a second. Then nothing. Darkness. The last thing she heard before complete silence was Rock desperately calling out her name.


	16. Chapter 16

Revy...

The fog receded taking with it the strength of the memory.

Back to the present. Rock was calling her name?

Something warm and wet pooled in her ears. Blood? No. Water.

"Wake up, Revy!" He pleaded, sounding panicked. "Oh God! Beck, wake up. " In a quiet whisper, he commanded in a determined tone, "You hear me! I know you do!"

 _What the fuck?_ She thought.

The sound of rapid slaps made it pass the water barrier followed slowly by hints of touch on her face. _Is Rock hitting me?_

Everything was so muddled in her head. It felt like she was half asleep, aware of her surroundings but unable to open her eyes and there was a distinct numbness through her entire body. For some reason, none of her muscles were responding to the simple command of 'move', no matter how badly she tried to.

"Come on." Steel inked through the panic of his voice. "You're tougher than this, damn it!" Rock reminded her.

Revy opens her heavy lids with effort, surprised to find herself looking straight up at a very worried Rock holding her in his arms. She was in the shower with him? When did this happen? Why was this happening?

Warm drops of water danced on her face, a few made their way up her nose causing her to cough and splutter. She felt his hand on her naked back pushing her gently to sit up, rubbing her back as she doubled over in a coughing fit. A searing pain accompanied each heave of her lungs which made her coughing a torturous activity for the seconds it lasted for.

"Easy, " She heard Rock soothing, the warmth of his hand so markedly distinguishable from the heat of the shower.

Rock reached over her head to turn off the water. As he stretched, she barely made out a whispering relieved breath of, " Thank God. Oh, thank God!", almost drowned out by the water in her ears and the noise of racing droplets against the tiles before a turn of the nob killed the flow then she remembered. This was all his fault!

Deliberately, he'd used the information of her past to get her to lower her guard, manipulating his way under her defenses just so he could throw that shit in her face. Just to hurt her. And it had worked!

 _So right about him!_

All that bullshit about him never doing anything to hurt her, all that trash about him being a gentleman. An act.

This betrayal would have been so much worse if she'd let him fuck her which almost happened too. She'd almost surrendered her body utterly to him, was about to trust a man for the first time **ever** , to share herself with one, **_and_** _that_ _for her_ was taboo to even consider.

 _Shoulda kicked him harder_. _Instead of his shoulders, shoulda aimed for his nuts._

From the way he was talking she'd suspected something was up but never would have guessed that Rock had figured out what she'd never told anybody and anyone who knew about it was either dead or too far away to worry about. Using what he knows, he nitpicked at her emotional scars as he played upon her weaknesses, going so far as to ask for her permission for fuck's sakes. Inside now, her emotions alternated from anger to sadness back to disappointment because she had answered him in her mind when he'd asked: "Do you want me too?"

"Yes, yes" she'd thought in reply because it'd felt so right when he touched her. So good to feel that yawning emptiness inside her grow smaller with each of his kisses, the gentle way he'd caress her; so unfamiliar and new yet so intense that she'd begged for him for more. She'd screamed his name uncaringly. But it was all an act on his part.

The pain in her chest was leaving as her coughing subsided. At once, Revy tried to lift her arms to push at Rock's chest and two things happened;

One: She couldn't lift her arms, in fact, they felt heavier than steel. Panic at this reality she started struggling, wiggling but barely able to.

Two: Rock held her tighter against himself. Actually fucking hugging her! Shocking her into silence and seizing her movement (the little she was managing) to a standstill.

"You scared the hell out of me," Rock told her, one hand supporting the other side of her head, his face in her hair, clothes soaking wet. "Don't ever do that to me again. You barely had a pulse. A heartbeat!"

The shock of the moment over she opens her mouth, " What the fuck is wrong with you? Get off me!"

"Can you stand?" He asked as if she had not said a word.

"Fucking let me go." She railed while thinking in a rapid chain, _What the fuck is wrong with my body? Why can't I move? Oh shit! Shit!_

"Can. You .Stand. Revy?" Rock asked again, demanding an answer from her. Those dark eyes scrutinizing her. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head as dark brows furrowed in conclusion to his own question, to which the answer was no.

Determined to prove that she was still in control and not - _sss-screwed,_ she tries to get up. She wasn't one to play victim or helpless and everybody knows that. She couldn't look weak especially in the company of a two-faced bastard like Rock.

"You can't," Rock said slowly, scowling down at her. "Can you?"

Revy ground her teeth, her lips sealed shut, looking up at him with her most malicious try-anything-with-me-prick-and-you'll-die-slow face on when she felt like hyperventilating. But she'd be damned before she allows herself to fall apart and become one of those women who cries and begs for mercy. She'd fight until her last breath. She'd been in worst situations than this all her life with tougher people than Rock. If he tries anything with her, he'd better kill her if he wants to live ...no...not even then because she would haunt him from the fucking grave if she had to.

 _Bring it, fucker_ _!_

Seeming to consider his options, Rock sported a grim look on his face which did nothing to calm her down because she couldn't predict what he about to do next. All she knew was that she was stuck in this freeze mode with only bravado and stubbornness left in her arsenal.

While she kept her 'brave face' on, Rock stood and before she could take a complete breath to argue, he was lifting her all-princess-bride-style and stepping out of the shower stall. It occurred then to Revy just how very naked she still was at the feel of Rock's arm on her lower back and his other arm under her thighs not to mention the cool air in the apartment caressing her asscheeks. The only thing that covered her was a soaked version of Rock's office shirt, clinging to her breasts and stomach.

Her bravado fled and she started struggling again. This time managing movement from her shoulders and torso gaining some traction of mobility. She slipped from his grip a bit but that didn't stop him.

"What-what-what the fuck is your problem?! Put me down.."

Rock pinned her exposed hand with the hand supporting her back. Afraid that she would attack suddenly?

If she could move - _Fucking A._

"Calm down now." He said sternly through gritted teeth which pissed her off again. Did he dare just talk to her like that? Like she was a brat or something _?._

 _Oh, just you wait._

Adjusting her in his arms, he carried her out of the bathroom literally pinned to his body applying his full muscle strength to her arms to keep her from constantly struggling. However, the more she struggled, the more she felt the numbness inking out little by little. She was starting to get a pins and needles sensation in her legs slowly spreading to the rest of her. Actually able to kick (barely) at the air and turning her head from side to side by the time they reached the passageway, at which point Rock pinned her with a serious look then warned in a low voice.

" Revy, I swear to God, if you bite me..." He let the words trail off making her want to bite him just see where that threat leads to but stopped herself.

 _Best not to antagonize the fucker while I'm not at a 100%_

Calling a time out of sorts, Revy decided to find out just what the hell happened to her. In a gruff tone, she said, "I was kicking your ass"

"Yeah, you were, "

"Then I can't remember what happened next," she admits.

"You passed out on top of me." He explained matter-of-factly. "Your eyes rolled over and I had to catch you before your head hit the floor."

Flashes came back to her in pieces while he spoke. Rock was under her shielding himself from her attacks then her fists started losing power on impact. The bits of what happened next was fuzzy. She heard him hiss in a breath as he adjusted her again in his arms. "Barely made it too since my ribs are still screaming from a savage beating and it's painful to move," he said sounding peeved.

"You deserved it." She spat.

His chest heaved against her as he inhaled deeply. A moment of silence followed before he continued to speak, pointedly ignoring her statement. "You must have really acted up your injuries. The fact that you're suffering from paralysis is a testament to how much. You need to see a doctor."

As they moved down the short passage, she couldn't help the upending thoughts echoing around in her brain- _He knows and I can't kill him for it._

This man that she barely knew for the better part of a year, actually now knew more about her than anyone living or dead but she didn't know squat but a name and what he did for a living before she kidnapped him. He knows that she had been the victim of someone else in one of the worst ways possible. And now she was at his mercy too. Fucking being carried by him, someone she despised because her body betrayed her. Yet he's the same man that had her screaming just minutes before in pleasure like she's never known. How fucked up is that?

No! What they did together didn't mean diddly fuck to her. She had an itch and he scratched that itch (multiple times). She got what she wanted and he got nothing in return. A win for her.

It could be her vanity that kept her anger flame hot or the confusion that she was experiencing inside. A turmoil of feelings bombarding her made more so as they entered the bedroom. She knew how to react to violence, excelled in abuse and degradation and easily knew the play on both sides of the field but as usual with Rock, she didn't know what to think. She thought for sure that he would have tried something by now, hit her head on the door frame as an 'accident' but nothing like that happened.

Gently, as if she was made of delicate glass, he places her on the bed. Once she was securely laid, he supported her neck as he fluffs the pillow under her head asking in a soft voice, "Are you comfortable like this?"

When she kept her mouth shut refusing to respond, he sighed then left the bedroom. It was then that she noticed his shirt, threads were in places where the buttons should be as if he ripped it from his back to cover her body.

Did he?

What did it matter? She didn't care. He was only doing this because he felt guilty for what he said. Yes, that has to be what it is.

She heard his footsteps in the passageway. What was he going to do with her?

Not willing to just lay there and wait for the unknown, Revy strode to regain her mobility. Sitting up was a challenge since her body still felt numb and burning sensations had started in her arms. She must have messed her injuries big time! Revy dug her heels into the mattress as her back and head met the wall behind supporting her upward efforts. Wriggling and grunting before finally managing a seated position. As payment for her refusal to stay down, a lock of wet hair tumble on her forehead over one eye and the wet shirt covering her wrinkled down her torso exposing her breasts fully. She tried blowing the hair out of her field of vision but got as far her feet could carry her, which right now wasn't very far.

Rock returned then, his expression unreadable. She wasn't some shrinking violet, any inkling of modesty she could have possessed was drilled out by communal showers while she was in prison, her innocence taken long before that. No. She was more concerned with what Rock was planning. Would he try anything with her? She's never been more vulnerable. Brought so low. Then she spied what was he was holding in his hands and nearly choked on a cry.

In one hand, he held her clothes and boots. In the other, he held one of her guns and the magazines.

Bravado redoubled, she snorted derisively, "And what are you gonna do now?" She challenged him.

"I'm going to dress you," he announces in an all-business like tone as he empties his hands, depositing the mags and gun at the end of the bed along with her clothes.

He was joking. He must be! Right?

"The fuck you will!" She exclaimed laughing a little but stopped at Rock's impassive look. "That's not fucking funny, Rock!"

"I'm not kidding" Rock answered in a deadpanned voice as he laid out her clothes. First, her tank top then came her shorts and her panties. Watching him handle her underwear shouldn't feel so titillating. It shouldn't bring to mind how he'd drag them down so slowly, toe-curling kisses following their descent.

Inward shake. Focus. Remember. The reason why she was experiencing all of this in the first place. The reason she couldn't move. She fixed her eyes on her weapons instead. The other gun joined its twin on the bed during her short memory trip. Even if he didn't know how to use a gun, he could still damage her in some way. She'd crack pretty of skulls with the butts of her cutlasses alone.

"Don't you fucking come near me, asshole."

Rock stopped what he was doing to raise his face to the ceiling muttering something under his breath before leveling his gaze on her again.

"You just experience something possibly life-threatening. I'm not a doctor but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that what just happened shouldn't be taken lightly. You need to see a doctor. I'm taking you to see one right now. " Rock informs her in a tone that brokered no argument so naturally, she argued. Growling out the words she made it clear to him.

"I'm not going to no fucking doctor and you're not fucking gonna touch me. I don't want your filthy hands anywhere on me."

At that, a muscle ticked in his jaw. A cold look took up residence in his dark brown pools as they stared at one another for a long moment.

"Very well then. Do as you wish," he said finally in a tone she'd never heard him use before. Indifference? Yes. Cold, emotionless indifference. She recognized it because that's exactly what she uses when she kills by the droves. When it was just her self preservation versus a no-name -soon -to -be- deadman. That revelation made her want to bite her tongue off.

She turned her head to keep him in sight, tracking his movements with her eyes as he walked away. Rock's back was to her in the far corner of the room, his fingers on his zipper dragging it down.

Dread gripped her. Inwardly she commanded her body to listen to her. To move, fucking move! Nothing.

Revy is the Queen of Cacophony. She had a no-contract policy with long periods of silence. Noise killed the memories, distracted her. In the quiet lulls, past voices screamed at her, constantly bringing pain and suffering.

Now questions plagued her mind.

Why wasn't he saying anything?

Did he plan to take out his sick revenge on her while she was in this state because she said some shit...have been doing some shit (blue balls and breaking and entering included) to him?

"Why are you taking off your clothes?"

Silence.

"Answer me dickwad, what the hell are you doing." He just ignored her.

Earlier, she thought she was about to hyperventilate, now her breaths shallowed. Her guns were right there yet she was powerless to use them. Rock wasn't talking and the quiet in this place was so loud she could hear the whirl of the ac unit over-head.

"Rock, damn you answer me!" She wished her voice didn't sound so panicked, she wished she could shut up and play it cool but anxiety had her by the throat the more she was left in this quiet helpless state. "Is this some sort of payback? Do you think you can take advantage of me because I can't fight back? What are you doing?"

A long sigh followed. "That should be obvious," Rock said finally in a flat tone, pinching the hem of his marina then pulling it over his head.

" If you refuse to go to the doctor, I'm not going to catch the flu by staying dressed in wet clothes. And besides," he quipped, glancing over his shoulder at her, "If I wanted to take some sort of advantage of you, wouldn't the better opportunity be while you were unconscious for over five minutes?"

Revy blushed embarrassed.

Turning back to what he was doing, he left her steaming in her thoughts. He put his pants and marina over one outstretched forearm, leaving only his boxers on. From her position she could see the outline of his ding dung under the cotton as he bends, arranging his shoes against the wall, his clothes dripping water on the tile. He wasn't hard anymore but there was no mistaking just how hung he was. With a size like his, wouldn't it hurt like the first and last time?

Out of fear of reliving that pain she'd kicked him. Now she was curious?

 _Why the hell am I thinking about this? I don't regret it!_

Rock straightened then turns in her direction and Revy snapped her gaze away. He passes her, heading to the door only to stop at the threshold saying,

"Don't worry, _someone like me_ will never touch you like that again. Let's just forget anything ever happened." Then he walked out of the room leaving the door opened.

Why did that just cause a pang? It shouldn't because she didn't give a shit.

In fact, she was glad she didn't have to suffer Rock's attentions. Even though she's never been in a relationship per se, never felt stupid things like crushes or love, that didn't mean she regretted never experiencing them.

Yet her mind kept going back to minutes ago. It didn't help that she could see the kitchen counter from her where she sat. The same place where Rock catered to her pleasure, his touch on her body, her abandoned uncontrollable cries. His firm tongue and skilled fingers inside her. Just how many women had he practiced on to get that good? How many were in her shoes, trying but can't get his touch out of their skins?

Revy, added to a conquest list? What the fuck?!

Was he a closet lech? Farfetch but not impossible to believe. Rock is an educated handsome man, who spoke at least three languages that she knew about. Even she could admit that he has an unusual charm and persuasion about him and when it came to business, once he got you to listen, the deal was as good as done. She's witnessed this a couple of times. Shit! She'd witnessed him talk his way out of being capped point blank by Balalaika then made the ice blue-eyed- war-loving Russian laugh her ass off directly afterward for fucks sakes. That had to be some sort of skill.

Add his knowledgable profile coupled with his pretty boy good looks and any woman with a pulse would want him before they found out about the swinger's package in his pants and experience what his mouth and fingers were capable of.

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_ She thought irritated.

Moreover, the idea of Rock with another woman, him whispering desperately; "I need to be inside you," to someone else was making Revy feel homicidal. Which was bullshit!

She glances away from the kitchen determined to cut off those memories; they meant nothing to her. It was just a carefully constructed act. An act that brought her to cum again and again, each one more explosive than the last.

She wasn't used to this, that's all. This week had her up in a twister of new experiences but it doesn't matter. As soon as she got her bearings back on point she would feel like her old self again.

Which was?

Familiar, navigational and patterned. Lonely, empty- _always on my own_. _Looking over my shoulder constantly._ She gave a hard shake of her head. _Suck it up. Don't pussy out. Don't pussy out._

Glancing down at her feet, she spied her cigarette pack peeking out from her shorts pocket taunting her. She desperately needs one or two or the entire pack right now. She tried flexing her fingers, they twitched but that's all.

She began the process of pinching and dragging the sheet with her toes and heel. Her body set to the task left her mind to wonder again.

Earlier, when a feeling of loss overcame her as Rock drew closer to the bed, Revy, the murderer, the cold unfeeling vanguard of the Lagoon Company was beset with an almost overwhelming sensation to loop her arms around his neck like in one of those sappy love movies.

 _Good thing I couldn't move._

She's never been carried before and admittedly to herself; it was kinda nice? Maybe?

"Come on!" She urged her slow-boat-to-China progress. Heels to wrinkled sheets. Toes for snagging. By the time her shorts reached her ankles, sweat beaded her brows, her breaths labored. "Come on"

Where the fuck was Rock anyway?

Her heaving chest stole her attention from her need for nicotine. Chin down, her eyes widened as red marks of various sizes occupied both of her breasts. Love bites?!

That fucker!

Were they in other places where people could see them?! Horror dawn on her. Why hadn't she thought about this before? Her rep! Her street credit! People fucking targeted her on a daily basis, trying to uncover her weaknesses. It's the golden rule of any dangerous profession; you can't get hold of your target, you target someone or something he cares about. Classic smoke 'em out technique.

She knew she didn't have any weaknesses to speak of but perception is reality. Would her enemies believe that she has a boyfriend? A lover? Would they suspect Rock? No, she's never shown any affection for him. Didn't feel anything but confusion and hatred, possessiveness for his kisses, for the way he took his time caressing, stroking her needs. Insatiable for more even now after being satisfied again and again. Would some other woman get to know that side of him?

Again, thinking about Rock with someone else was causing an itch in her trigger fingers.

Annoying myself? Can't .think .straight!

Because every other thought was Rock. She wanted to kill him. She wanted him to hold her as he did in the bathroom. She couldn't even remember the last time someone invaded her personal space without malicious intent and Rock was relieved that she was ok. Was worried for her.

No, no, fuck no! I need a smoke. She thought, convincing herself.

Revy grunted, putting more effort into her task. Shorts at her shank. Rock strode into the room, scanning the situation. Wordlessly, he picked up her shorts, fishing the cigarette pack and lighter from the pocket. He took out two sticks putting one in his mouth then coming over to her. Revy parted her lips and he gave her what she was dying for. Two strikes of her lighter later and she was inhaling calming nicotine. Relief washed through her, thoughts growing more concrete with each draw and exhale she did. She felt more like Revy. She just needed a cigarette, that's all.

Then why were her treacherous eyes stalking the pale skin on Rock's upper back as he walked to the opposite side of the bed, lighting his cigarette? Why couldn't she stop watching those muscles flexed under black and blue bruises? Water droplets drip from black hair, racing down the length of his spine to narrowed tapered hips. She couldn't help following their trek with her gaze until they were absorbed into the waistline of his shorts. Did he take a shower? Why are her breaths shallowing again?

Eyes up. Gaze fixed on anywhere but him.

Again. What the hell is wrong with me?

She felt the bed dip on the opposite side but refused to look in his direction, her contract with silence activated. It didn't take long for her to break it.

"How long did you find out?" She asked quietly

"Recently"

"How did you know?" The words spilling from her lips.

"Do you really want to talk about this?"

"How the fuck did you know, Rock?" The octave of her voice rising yet it shook a little.

As if the words were pulled from him he told her. "I didn't" Revy turned her head to him and he looked back her. "but you gave me the clues to figure it out with your words and your actions."

Another silent break before he reluctantly continued "That conversation in the sunken sub is etched in my mind, Revy. I'll never forget it.

He'd gleam that much from that tidbit she'd told him about her life?

"So you wanted to use that against me?"

"No! If it were up to me alone, you wouldn't have known that I knew. I respect you too much"

"Bullshit! " Seething rage injected in her veins. "I bet you had a great time, eh? Having one thing over my head?" She gave a humorless chuckle, disdain dripping from every word as she continued. "Rebecca, the helpless victim turned badass motherfucking Two Hands. Bet you like that, huh? Good storyline? Good material for your hobby? Well, fuck you Rock. Fuck you and fuck your fucking respect. You can shove it up your ass."

He said nothing as she vented, feeling twinges in her fingers, arms burning but movement little by little coming back.

"Fucking safe bubble people like you couldn't begin to understand the fucked up hell my life was"

Rock chose that moment to interrupt her rant, "and just how long are you going to sing that same song, Revy?"

"You're a fucking dead man!' She leaped for her guns.


	17. Chapter 17

Rock...

"Revy versus the world, cutlasses in hand. Admirable." Rock remarked drily somewhat amused at her current plight. "You hang on to your past like a drowning woman, wearing it like a badge of honor as if you can't grow from who you were back then."

Relaxing with his back kissing the cool wall, Rock ignored the bite of pain, feeling the bruise protesting at the intrusion. Two fingers securely held his cigarette between his lips as he takes a draw from the end. Calmly, he kept watching as Revy desperately fumbles with her gun like a crab handling soap for the first time and finding the exercise equally unpleasant. He took another long drag from his calm-me-down stick to help him think while listening to the sounds in the room; frustrated grunts mixed in with the lazy whirl of the AC overhead, his exhales as he releases the confined smoke through his nostrils slowly.

Were he an evil man or even one out for revenge as Revy seems to believe he is, he could have used his toe to nudge the gun out of her hand with just the slightest effort. She was in such a weakened state, one would think that she would keep her ass quiet and wait until she was back to 100% to make death threats. Were he the type of man she's been trying to make him out to be, right now would have been an excellent time for the silent treatment just to fuck with her since he now knows she hates silence. He could torment her for a long damn time. As a man who enjoyed living in his head, hours upon hours of silence were the perfect vacation. And that would be the least of what he could do to her. Years of bullying in every way possible can make a man exhibit traits best performed in darkness. And he's had experiences aplenty to draw from.

A full minute passed as he thought and she struggled; warring with the wrinkled sheets, her sleeping fingers unable to get a grip on the handle of the gun properly. With all the shit she's put him through, the last three months alone would be enough for him to act on the appealing thoughts nudging him on to take this opportunity for payback in the most imaginative ways he could come with. And to be honest, he wasn't short in that department either. Were he an evil man, that is.

He bit back a curse. "I hate women like you." Rock voiced after a while breaking the silence between them. Revy had yet to say anything so concentrated was she on getting her gun cocked and aim at him but that admission paused her movements for the briefest moment then they resumed, her efforts redoubled as her goal of holding her gun securely in her hand grew into reality. Rock looked down at his feet through a smoke-filled gaze, "I've had a draining day yesterday and an even worse night before that because of you. Then my apartment got vandalized and I lost everything but the clothes on my back, again! Then I had to work an all night commission directly after, " he bitched, rightfully so. He paused for a long moment to take a drag on his cigarette before slowly spitting the words piece by piece at her, "then all I wanted to do was sleep."

This wasn't good. He was getting angrier with her the more he recounted the events that brought them to this point. With her trapped and cornered and naked in every sense of the word and his thoughts taking on a darker tone than he was comfortable with. Damn it! He'd warn her not to fucking play with him and she didn't listen- _Because apparently, I'm a plaything to torment! To belittle and toy with based on what? Someone's whim? The fucking weather. Control. Control. Control! -_ a deep inhalation followed by another then another, - _Fucking Hell! Goddamn it!_

Rock bit the inside of his jaw, inhaling deeply for a calm he could not feel.

In one smooth action, he moved from his spot, took the gun from her hands just as she finally managed to get a hold on it then tossed it to the far corner of the room. The loud clattering noise the thing made interrupted the silence in the otherwise quiet apartment. For a second, Revy gave him a shocked-deer-in-the-headlights-look as if she couldn't quite believe he'd just done that. He could just as well have interpreted her expression like one a child would evince when their favorite toy is unjustly punished by a mean older kid. Then came the blue streaks! His name mixed in with language potent enough to raise demons. Pissed, Revy questioned the legitimacy of his birth, degraded his mother and her feminine parts and his father's sexual status and his ability to a man.

Rock listened wordlessly to her spitting fire at him and maybe it was cruel of him but just get to her, he moved out her line of sight back to the wall knowing full well that with her in that position, flat on her stomach and in her condition, she couldn't see him. She might as well be a turtle flipped on it's back. She would only be able to hear him. Torturous as it was, he found that he was enjoying himself. Bad idea, since nothing good ever came from him enjoying himself but he couldn't help it.

"Sleep was all I wanted," Rock repeated as if he couldn't hear a word she said as she continued to curse him. He didn't enter into shouting match with her. He didn't even raise his voice above a conversational level. His tone, however, dictated the intensity of his words, the kind which demanded you listened.

"Then you made me want more."

"Fuck you!" Revy spat acidy at him. "Pissed because I didn't let you fuck me-?"

"Shut your fucking mouth!" It was a reaction that surprised both them, Revy more so. A few seconds of shocked silence reigned before, more calmly Rock stated, "I shouldn't have to tell you that when you're in a situation where you are at a disadvantage you either shut up or come up with something clever." Reiterating a lesson he'd learn from Balalaika back in Japan. When the cold nozzle of her gun pressed against the skin of his forehead, her manicured finger lovingly stroking the trigger as she contemplated if the next second she would terminate his tenure in her employment as an interpreter, permanently. "In your present state, naked, vulnerable and alone without your guns, one would _think_ **that** _clearly_ , you are at a disadvantage." The passive-aggressive calm fluctuating in his voice was scaring the shit out of her, he knew, but she's been asking for this as proof that he was just like everybody else she's encountered in her life no matter what he said or did or didn't do.

"So you got some balls now because I'm like this?" Her voice held a note of confirmation as if she would have said 'I knew it.'

He ignored her question, his words danced between volumes, fluctuating between loud and dying softly as he continued, "I warned you, didn't I? I repeatedly asked you to stop, to not toy with me but you continued anyway. Are you happy now?!"

It would have been better if he was threatening her with a loaded gun, this side of him was what she didn't like one bit because she couldn't tell what he was going to do next. Abruptly he barked out a bitter laugh unsure of what else to do about their...whatever this was...he couldn't tell any longer.

"You fucking lost it?" Revy asked but her bravado before had abandoned her voice leaving a shadow of itself in her words.

Rock moved back into her line of sight, deliberately leering at her naked body and making sure that she sees him looking at her before their eyes met. Though she tried to hide the terror in those brown pools and maybe with other people she could conceal it perfectly with bravado and call it a day but he would know that look anywhere. He's seen it too many times in the mirror!

Turning the volume back to that same conversational tone, Rock continued, his voice honey soft, "Is this what you wanted to see? Me, like this? Does this prove to you that I'm like anybody else in this city? Everyone you've met? What's next? Am I going to force your legs open and satisfy myself with what _you_ started while you try to fight me?" he let those words sink in, watching her skin physically goosebumped out of fear as the silence ticked on. "Yes, Revy, I'm pissed. Rock, from the safe bubble community, is pissed but not because I didn't fuck you," he quipped.

Sitting next to her, he lowered his lips to her ear, one long arm stretching over her, flanking her torso. This close he could make out several piercing scars along her earlobe. Revy tried to turn her head away which caused her hair to tumble over her face. He could tell she was trying hard to control her breathing as he gently used a finger to sweep the lock of hair behind her ear. His lips were so close he knew his breath felt hot on her earlobe. He wished he was whispering something else. He wished he wasn't the one making her try to suppress the terrified shivers no doubt running a chilling route up and down her spine.

"I wonder," he began gently stroking her soft hair, unable to help himself, "what someone out there," he gestured with his chin to the blind covered window cocooning them from what Roanapurr had to offer, "if they were in my position right now with you like this, I wonder what they would do to you?"

"Don't touch me," That was almost a sob.

Rock refused and continued to stroke her silky mane, loving the way her hair felt sifting through his fingers, hating the way he was loving this. It was all too easy for him to imagine her in his arms sleeping peacefully, the morning light just intruding on their reality and him playing lazily in her hair like this. He hated the words he was about to say but they had to be said.

"Yeah," He said vexedly though his tone was cool. Rock forced himself to continue speaking as if he was answering a question, "I'm sure you know that they would touch you when you don't want them to, in places you don't want them to and they'd laugh as they did things to you, things to make you pray for a swift death **_as a kindness_** ,"

"Me? Pray?" Revy said condescendingly through gritted teeth but again he ignored her.

He scented her hair then fisted sheets. "This would have been a golden opportunity for anyone who's ever want to humiliate in the **_most degrading_** of ways, again and again, the great and powerful Two Hands, right?" He didn't wait for her answer, partly because he didn't want to hear what she had to say. "Not a one would even be decent enough to consider your feelings on the matter of you. And yet...I...did."

"Did?" She asked but he didn't answer her.

"Even with what you've put me through these last three months. Today alone should have been enough for me to hurt you. Do you think I'm soft because I don't retaliate?" Rock buried his face in her hair and she flinched.

Neither for them said anything for a few heartbeats until Rock let out a deep sigh then abruptly got up as if she'd stung him.

"So let me get this crystal clear," Revy began contemplatively, "you hate me and I'm completely defenseless and you're not going to do a damn thing because of you're imaginative morals? You _are_ a fucking pussy."

Never has he had such a strong urge to throttle someone. Rock clench his fist as he thought in resignation. _I'm talking to a broken record, a fucking brick wall with an attitude problem._

He dropped the cigarette butt on the tile then stomp on it with his bare heel. Picking up her cigarette pack from the side of the bed, he took another lighting it immediately, responding as he did so. "And you're a bitter bitch who wouldn't know a decent man if one had you naked and helpless in his bed," he snapped back.

"Decent." She spat scornfully, "You want a medal for not raping me, Rock...yet? For keeping it in your pants so far?"

He grasped one of her elbows and in one fluid motion flipped her onto her back. Revy bounced on the spring mattress, her eyes widening at her sudden change in position, lips spluttering angrily. In another second, he was top of her, knees straddling her torso, both hands planted at the sides of her head. He hovered over her, not touching. He could tell that he was asking for a bullet between his eyes for scaring her like this. Maybe he was even picking at some emotional scars but fuck her! She did the same to him by behaving so much like the people he's tried so badly to forget. Eyes locked onto hers he whispers menacingly,

"let me spell it out for you, you left the same man you've been bullying for the last three months sexually frustrated after you pretended to want me and now you're naked in my bed and under me. In comparison to what's out there and what anyone else would've done to you, you're fucking right I deserve it."

He briefly considered lowering himself, to make her feel a part of his misery that would be her nightmare if he had a mind to act on it. His pride stopped him.

 _Fucking pathetic._ He thought disgusted with himself _. Lusting after someone who pretended to want you, Rock? Toyed with you?_ Yet his attraction to her wouldn't wane further adding to his humiliation. That made him roll off her to sit on the side of the bed. His back turned to Revy, tunneling his fingers through his hair and smoking his cigarette determined to block out thoughts of her body out of his head, what she felt like on his skin, between his fingers, tasted like on his tongue.

After a long silent pause, Revy asked, "why you said that?"

"Said what?"

"That you hate me."

She wasn't going to let this go, was she? "I said I hate women like you," he corrected.

"Why?" Revy asked again, "Do I remind you of someone you want to forget?" She was fishing for an answer he wasn't about to give, though his shoulders stiffened slightly at her words. She must have noticed because she continued, voice growing cockier by the second, "Maybe, I remind you of the same person that gave you that scar on your leg?" He could almost feel her face splitting with that wolfish grin of hers at gaining a victory of sorts over him.

 _Damn her,_

Turning back to her, he explained, "Women like you who think they have a right to toy with others because they're attractive. You think it's ok to put a man through hell because he's interested in you. But don't worry, I no longer have any interest whatsoever. Lesson learned." He gestured to her body with a careless wave of his hand, his rancor at its peak when he told Revy, "even with all you have to offer right there for the taking, I don't want it."

Her victory grin fell off her face.

He forces himself to turn away from her as to not look at her breasts or roam over her sun-kissed skin or drink in her luscious curves.

Exhaling a smokey breath, Rock pinches the cigarette using his index and thumb removing it from his mouth, leaving his lips free.

"I think I understand why you're so angry at me." Rock stated, addressing the elephant in the room, "because my imaginative morals as you put it got smeared in shit three months ago, around that time you stop seeing me as you once did." He turned to look at her, watching her brows furrow in comprehension. Rock continued on, refusing to avert his eyes from her face, "the day I stepped into the darkness possessing this city. The day I changed and made you remember what you didn't want to. Isn't that right?"

"You fucking knew, didn't you?" her head shaking slowly as if to deny what he was saying.

Rock shook his head too, "I listened as you punched me in the face on the boat during the Maid incident and the rest figured out on my own. But I'm not going to apologize for that. I'm not going to apologize for stop being the Rock you've come to think you understand when you haven't even tried to get to know me. To know who I am?"

"You fucking bastard, you fucking knew all this time." She repeated.

"I'm not stupid. Besides you are easy to read into, Revy. Your actions were basically screaming everything at me."

"But wanted me to spell it out for you like I'm an idiot?"

"I was **_hoping"_** he interrupted, " that we could be mature about it and talk it out," Rock said with a grunt then more to himself, "wishful thinking, I suppose." he felt a nudge on his lower back from her foot followed by curses. Crushing his half-done cigarette, Rock laid back on his side of the bed, getting comfortable, unsure of what to say after what was just said. It was strange, this 'relationship' between him and Revy. Opposites and yet...

"I think" he started after a minute, "I understand you Revy-"

"Like a spoiled little nerd like you could possibly understand me. You had it fucking easy!" Revy interrupted accusingly before he could continue, "born with a silver fucking spoon up your ass," her voice approaching scream-level. "talkin' bout you understand me! You don't understand shit."

"If that's what you want to believe," Rock looking down at her after putting on of the pillows under his head. "You sound jealous of my ' ** _easy'_** life? Did you want it? Is that why you're so insistent on my leaving Roanapurr because you believe I had the cushy life you've always wanted but felt you forfeited it.

"Fuck you,"

"Well, you certainly acted like wanted to fuck me. Convinced me, too." It was a cheap shot admitted but- _I'm allowed to have some petty moments, right?_ "Do you pity me Revy, is that it? For my bad decision in staying here with you? Is that the reason why you've been so mad at me? Did I represent all you've ever wanted but never within your reach before I changed three months ago?"

Only silence met his barrage of questions accompanied by her poker face he's come to associate with Revy's way of 'letting you wait', confirming the truth of what he was saying.

"I never ask you to put me on some pedestal, I was never pretending with anyone over the year we've known each other. I was only showing you a fragment of my personality just as you have been doing with me. Fair is fair, Revy. You can't keep blaming me for failing to be who you've built me up to be when you've never even tried to understand me fully."

When another bout of silence followed Rock gave up. Feeling the tension of the argument oozing out of him, he put an arm over his face; sleep creeping back into him like a sponge soaking up water.

 _I must have gotten less than I thought or maybe I'm just mentally_ _exhausted_. That would explain why the hunger gnawing in his gut wasn't noteworthy right now.

Inhaling deeply, Rock releases a few contented sighs, his body registering one thing.

 _One of my bad habits._

Once Rock's mind was set on something there was no changing it. Right now that was sleep! He could feel the tiredness seeping into his bones. Lacking for food, it was that much more intense. Sleeping right now felt like a really good idea. Even with a killer naked and pissed at him, at his heels- literally, it didn't matter. He no longer cared.

"You had a mom, right?" Revy voiced long after what he would classify as the argument being closed. Why did she have to choose that moment, just as bliss was settling in, just his breathing grew into a relaxed pattern to restart their conversation?

"Hm?!" Rock grunted irritated. "What the fuck?" he muttered drowsily followed by an annoyed sigh.

"I said you have a mom that was around, right?"

"Doesn't everyone?" He retorted sardonically. _Gimme a break,_ n _ow you wanna talk?_ He was certain she was being spiteful or maybe he was just grumpy.

"You gonna get smart ass with me?" Her voice telling me to watch it.

"I want to sleep and I thought the conversation was over since you chose to be silent after my last statement. But yes, I have a mother and a father and an older brother. Yes, Revy I have a family."

"Then you had it easy, Rock." She insisted.

What the hell? Were they going to play "trade" to see who had to worst childhood? Does the winner get to shut the other up?

"If that's what you want to believe." He repeated, a yawn dulling the sharpness of his words. "My death was probably the best thing that ever happened to my family," Rock admitted after his yawn died, his arm still over his eyes. He released chuckled humorlessly, voice laden with exhaustion, he continued. "Rokuro Okajima, the blight of the Okajima family, the bad investment they wasted their resources on, finally taken care of. Final...out of the way. I'm sure my funeral was just a formality as to not lose face in the upper-middle-class social circle. What family doesn't mourn the loss of their son, right?"

"So your parents hated you and loved your brother, that's it? That's your sob story?"

"Shut up Revy, I want to sleep." Fed up with her and mad at himself for disclosing that tidbit about his past. He's always told himself that he didn't give a damn. _I don't care. Not at all._ His own family neglected his very existence except when other people of note where watching.

"Someone's grown some balls."

"You were feeling them up a little while ago, you tell me?"

"I'm gonna kill you in your sleep," Revy told him after few moments.

"Whatever you do," Rock said, turning his back to Revy, "don't wake me."


	18. Chapter 18

Revy...

Revy straddles Rock, careful not to wake him as she lowered herself slowly to seat snug onto his lap, alining his cock with her core, nakedly testing it out with subtle undulations of her hips up and down, grinding a little as the covered tip touched between her legs. She wasn't wet anymore but grinding on his cock head was getting her wet. The imposing size felt good to rub against even as it scared her. This was just a test. She didn't even consider what would happen if Rock woke up and found her on him like this. Would he laugh at her? Become braggy or chatty? Or would he just go along with it? The first three weren't favorable especially after being so humiliated. The bed dipped a little when her knee sank into the mattress but Rock didn't stir from his slumber. She's kept quiet for most of the time she's been forced to lay still unable to move because she didn't want to wake Rock. At the time, it wasn't out of politeness but a matter of pride why she didn't disturb Rock's beauty sleep. Now, it was more experimentation. Her hands lightly ran down from his chest to his stomach, hot skin against her palm.

Was he supposed to be so hot with the AC on? Was his cock just as hot? A good question but there was only one way to find that out.

Inhaling deeply for courage and repeating the 'I'm not chicken shit, I'm not chicken shit', mantra in her head, Revy started pulling down Rocks shorts, exposing the broad head from the feel of it. She couldn't see anything very well, though her eyes had gotten adjusted to the darkness in the room. Because Rock was laying down, the waistband of the shorts kept snapping back in place, covering most of his privates and forcing her to reach in to pull out his junk which she wasn't game for. She only needed some of it, not all of the thing. This was just an experiment to prove to herself that she couldn't, no, that he wasn't a fit for her. There was no way that he could be. The thing filled up her palm barely leaving any space as she grasped it, she could only imagine how it would tear her tight little hole. The biggest things that ever went there were fingers and tongues. She didn't want to leave here not knowing that she was right to stop them when she did, that would haunt her for sure.

 _This is on my terms._ She reminded herself. She was in control and she wouldn't suffer any pain.

Now or never. Biting her lip, Revy inhaled again then release the breath. Angling her body, she positions the head to sit on it when;

"I told you not to wake me,"

Rock woke up. Revy froze unsure what to do next.

 **Earlier...**

He fell asleep?

 _The bastard fell asleep on me!_ Revy flabbergasted thought echoed in shock waves in her mind. What man willingly falls asleep next to a naked woman that he doesn't want to dip his wick in? Add that to the humiliation that he finds her attractive only he no longer wants her. No longer worth the trouble.

For a long strange time, she laid there unable to move as the silence set in, in time with Rock's soft snores; her anger cooling with the minutes. Apparently, being unable to do shit to the person your anger with when they were less than an arm's length away from you does put the 'oh, fuck it!' into perspective.

She couldn't even call the 'gay' card anymore to make sense of any of this as a justification.

 _NO bugger boy could do me like that._ Revy mused recalling her time in the kitchen as **_Rock's_ **meal and a shiver ran through her entire body at the memory. Now, Rock didn't want her.

 _He's given up on me._ She mentally scoffed at that realization _. Not the first time it's happened._ But this time it felt more perplexing not to mention humiliating.

 _I feel like an idiot._

She was regaining some feeling back into her body, slow progress but still progress. There were a lot of pins and needles sensations at varied points but no movement yet. Pulse she didn't have to move right now so she just laid there, next to a sleeping man, naked. It wasn't like he was dead, either. Had any woman ever been in something like this? She didn't know if she should be confused or happy or insulted? She decided to mix it up as she reflected, a heavy sigh erupting soon after.

"This is why I hate the quiet so much."

The silence screams too much of the truth plus it left her alone with her thoughts, never a good thing in the best of times. To get through something like that when she wasn't hunting prey or in any immediate danger running high on adrenaline with the smell of a kill about to happen, she usually medicated with heavy music, loud and pulsating through her headphones or the tv would be on a full the volume or just with a bottle and pack of cigs to nurse her sorrows. But during this time, here with Rock sleeping next to her, several realizations manifested as she laid there in the quiet lulls thawing from her paralysis. Simple ones really but only clearer now because she wasn't angered anymore.

When she got in this paralyzed state, her guns taken away, she'd believed for certain that Rock would have taken advantage; any normal man or person would have but he didn't. She'd insulted and attacked him when he held all the cards all this time only revealing what he knows in a fit of anger when she'd pushed him too far and he lost his shit. Then he dismissed her, again, after showing her how wrong she was about him; leaving her pride as bruised as his back. She could barely make out the almost patterned black and blue spread on his upper back in the dying twilight. He'd fallen asleep with his back to her.

"Do you trust me that much?" Revy asked her bed partner in a hushed voice. Apparently, on some level he did.

She wasn't educated like Rock was but she knew people and you don't turn your back to someone you didn't trust even in your sleep. It's an unconscious thing, like a mode or a switch your body automatically flicked on unless you're a dimwit. Rock wasn't a fool which made her feel like a double idiot. And another thing to note, was that for once, she was not craving a drink. Which begs the question;

 _How can I feel this sane sober when it's quiet?_

Maybe it was the episode that she had earlier from confronting some of the ghosts of her past, thanks to Rock. But she didn't feel tormented right now. That could be because someone else knew what she's been carrying around for years. The secret weight on her shoulders lightened a little. And she didn't even have to say anything, which avoided her the issue of talking about it.

 _Oh, fuck me!_ She groaned miserably, needing to stomp or punch at something but only managing a jerky motion in her left leg. It had finally happened. Someone had invested time and energy into understanding her rather than bolt for the hills like every foster family (there weren't that many) that's ever had the misfortune of meeting her. Scratch that, most of everyone that wasn't cut from the same cloth as she was avoided being even near her instinctively. Except for Benny but he was almost killed by both the F.B.I and the Mafia at the same time so that kinda makes him, if not bloodied then inducted. But not Rock. He just got catch up in a wave passing by.

She continued to chide herself quietly as the darkness grew in the apartment like vines encouraged by the blinds on the window. The icy breath from the AC on the wall licked at her naked body causing goosebumps to erupt and her nipples to harden. She was getting cold. And that annoyingly brought her body back into horny mode. Now she was horny but couldn't reach to scratch her itch; if that's not irony. She tried not to think about it too much, though a question remains stagnant in her head and she didn't have an answer since she'd chicken out, which pissed her off because she's never backed down from a challenge before.

After discovering that she could roll onto her side, much like a baby does when it's first learning to move; it was annoying and clumsy but eventually, she did it, Revy mused on what the answer to her silent question would have been like.

 _What would have happened if I hadn't kicked him into the wall?_

Would the sex between them be gentle or rough or just disappointing?

He'd made her come a lot and he didn't. She crossed out disappointing and it's safe to take rough out of the picture. Rock knew about her bad experiences and he kept reassuring her that he wouldn't hurt her.

"Though after a year with his hands and Jergens, he thought he could score when the gentleman act had run its course." She reasoned to herself darkly.

In the year they've known each other, she's never known him to take a woman. And she would know! This was Roanpurr. You couldn't take a shit without someone knowing about it much less a whore. Yet Rock selflessly saw to her pleasure before his own when a lesser man wouldn't have even cared if she got off or not. Especially after so long a wait.

 _Did he want to make it good for me? Wait...does that make me a selfish lover?_

Another groan followed another roll in the darkness as her guilt set in. Revy disliked regret.

 _Fuck this!_ she thought crossly. _He wanted to fuck me. End of story._

Thinking more about it she remembered just how bad he wanted to make that happen!

A man like Rock doesn't beg, he negotiates. Even when she'd kidnapped him, a loaded gun to his head cocked and aimed, he'd asked her if she was joking instead of begging for his life. But this afternoon, he'd pleaded to her in desperate whispers;

"Please, say yes." Kissing from her inner thigh to her knee, he'd let her know, "want you so much, I crave you. Need to be inside you." Her core quivered at the memory and she bit into her lip. She wasn't going to forget those words any time soon.

Rock rolled over onto his back, a sigh releasing from his lips. He was sculpted and sexy without those office clothes on. His chest sported a thin crisp line of black that lead a goodie trail down his abs to his navel and lower. Again, he was growing hard in his sleep and intimidating as his boxers fought to keep his 'boy' contained.

"Intimidated? Me?" Something was off there. Sure, Rock had quite a snake in his pants. If Dutch ever fired him, he could get a job at Roland's doing floor shows. That thought irritated her just thinking about another woman doing anything with him or even looking at him without his clothes on, even if it was for money. She shouldn't be jealous but it's there every time she thinks about him with somebody else. He shouldn't be with anybody else but why would he want to be with her after she'd ...

 _after I just fucked up so much._ Then as an afterthought. _I'll kill him if he ever fucks anybody else but I'll kill the whore, first._

Future death promises aside, Revy wasn't happy being intimidated by Rock. In a lot of ways she could see that as something she couldn't control with her rough past and all and to be honest, she really didn't know the man. But what she did know was;

 _He wasn't a killer like everyone around here. And he isn't an abuser like my father was to me and my mother but he wasn't a pussy or a coward either._

She kinda felt a little guilty for calling him that earlier. Just a little. She knew what pussies and cowards would have done to her in Rock's position and it wasn't falling asleep- _of all things!_ But Rock's proven to her that he shouldn't have to hurt her, regardless of what she thinks and it's not because he couldn't or he was afraid of her. He definitely wasn't afraid of her with or without her guns. But simply because he refuses to.

 _So what would have happened if I hadn't stopped you?_

All conclusions said incredible sex. Unforgettable mind-blowing sex if her couple of orgasms were any measurement with a man that actually put her first. The first man to ever do that _._

 _And I let my past ruin that for me._

 _I_ n one afternoon, Rock turned everything she's been surviving on, on its head. At least when it came to him. Only him.

Her fists clench, a tight feeling in her fingers as she opened and closed all ten of them repeatedly as feeling oozed back into her arms. About five minutes later she was wiggling her big toe, one then the other before the other little pigs all came back online. There was a burning sensation in her legs when she tried to sit up like they were waking up after sitting in one place for too long. Pins and needles in the soles of her feet prickle and stung when she finally, **_finally_** , sat up on her own, resting them on the cool tiles, ready to take her first steps.

The first step was hell. The pain alone was something to talk about and for several minutes she stood there (stooped there?), one hand weakly holding on to the edge of the bed, breathing hard, sucking in her lip and closing her eyes against the torturous feeling running through her body. The simple act of walk had become a trial of fire as she inched her way around the bed to the corner where Rock- the son of a bitch, had thrown her gun. How dare he do that to her cutlass?

It seems a lifetime passed before she arrived at her destination. When Revy ran out of bed-edge to keep her balance, she had to lower herself to the tiles, dragging her naked ass to her weapon over icy tiles before propping herself up against the wall, wedged in the corner; cold steal in her hands, her labored breaths sounding loud in her ears.

Some light streamed through under the blinds as the street lights came on, banishing some of the darkness, showing her the man on the bed oblivious to her regaining her mobility with her gun in her hand.

Revy shook her head. "I don't know what to make of you," She told Rock quietly from her murky corner as she checked the magazine, sliding it out and tilting her head and shoulders trying to catch the light insistent on breaking into the room to bounce off the copper tips. A full clip. She slides it back up slowly listening to the soft 'click' as it locks in place, drew it back to clear the chamber then puts the safety on.

She sighed contentedly, "Now I feel like me again,"

Yet she could deny that Rock has pushed her into another part of herself. She couldn't deny that she's tasted pleasure that she wasn't going to give up to another woman. Revy is possessive, dangerously so but she wasn't stupid. Rock wants something more than just him finger fucking her and sucking her clit and tits while he strangled his snake. He wants sex. Something that she might not be able to handle mentally, and physically it was- _scares me shitless_. She reluctantly admits to herself and not even out loud. Especially with Rock's size, it's...it's hard to imagine how that wouldn't hurt and men had a tendency to lose control when they fucked.

She tried to suppress shuddered unsuccessfully as the unwanted memory of her rape came back into her head from some dark part of her mind. The power of it caused her to literally clamp her legs shut tight, hugging her knees with one hand while the other clutched her gun in a death grip. Her hands shook and she felt like someone slammed a hammer into her chest.

 _A big ass fucking hammer!_

"I'm not fucking afraid. I'm not fucking afraid, I'm not," She chanted to herself in an attempt to convince the girl inside that she wasn't that same little girl anymore.

Minutes past before she let go of her knees and eased her grip off her gun to rise from the corner unsteadily to her feet. It appalled her to feel so weak and vulnerable because of something that happened.

 _How can a fucking memory have power over me?_

Her muscles had come fully back online in the time she's spent in the corner with only a little stiffness left over from her 'thawing' as she walks to stand over the bed, gun in hand over a sleeping. De Ja Vu.

After tucking the gun under his pillow carefully, Revy straddles Rock's lower body, keeping her mantra playing in her head to spur her on. This was to prove, if only on a small scale, that she wasn't afraid. That it's a choice for her to refuse or choose to give someone access to her body and not out of fear.


	19. Chapter 19

Rock...

 **Sometime later**

"I told you not to wake me," Rock said cracking his eyes open slowly, noting how sleep-roughen his voice sounded and how his body felt slow and lazy.

Revy didn't answer.

Which concluded in his sleep laced head that; _She's up to something,_ he thought irritated in his half awake-half asleep state that seems to be the themed state of the day because this would be the second time today he would wake up like this.

 _How long was I out_? He wondered absently, his curiosity strong though his mind was still foggy.

According to his eyes, a long damn time-maybe three hours or more? He couldn't know for certain until he checked his watch for clarification because save for a few thin fingers of light pushing their way under the blinds from a streetlight nearby, he couldn't see anything much so it must be at least 8 p.m. Also, thanks to the strings of light, he could make out Revy's outline just a bit. Earlier in his sleep, he felt a weight added to his lower stomach but that wasn't what kicked him out of the dreamless bliss he was enjoying all this time. No. Strangely, it was the sound of a gun's magazine; that soft 'click' locking it in place that activated his sense of awareness. Maybe his senses were on high alert or he's just come to read into her moves in the year they've known one another, even while he slept. The slightest breeze caressed his skin as her arm shot up. He didn't know why it caused him to react since the AC was on as well. He didn't know how he could discern between the two but it didn't matter.

Rock attacked!

Reaching blindly in the darkness, he managed to get a hold of her wrists, pushing them away from his general direction. Rock listened for one of her guns to go off any second now as both of them grunted, struggling to overpower one another but that didn't happen.

And this was NOT his ideal way to wake up!

"the hell-!" Her protest died as one second she was on top of him, gun cocked and aimed to kill him and the next, he was rolling them, wrestling with her with most of his strength concentrated on pinning her down and taking away her weapon and trying to not get killed in the process.

"Get off me, asshole!"

Blame it on the fact that he was a grouch when he woke up in the best of times, much less like **_this_** but Rock wasn't feeling very magnanimous or having any feelings like his usual rational understanding self; those were fresh out of his arsenal right now. This was his life that Revy insisted on causal batting about like a sadistic cat merrily playing with a mouse on a string.

 _I'm so sick and tired of this._ Rock thought disgusted and annoyed and frustrated and a hundred other emotions too tangled up for him to identify right now but none of them were good, of this he was certain.

Breathing with effort after managing to pin her arms over her head with one of his as he tries to take her weapon away, Rock barked out;

"What the fuck is wrong with you, woman?! When is enough, enough for you?" He yelled in her face.

In the dark, he heard her labored breaths panting as she strained against his strength causing him to conclude that; "You're still not at a 100% yet you're trying to kill me!" More than a little irritated, he could feel the surge of a pissed off rant coming on, a verbal faucet about to go full blast. He wasn't a man prone to moan and bitch but this was just too much!

"If I was _trying_ to kill you," Revy stated struggling against his hold, "we wouldn't be talking right now."

His brain registered the truth in that statement punctuated even more with the fact that her hands weren't holding on a weapon either. But his brain was also screaming in large thought letters- _Fuck that!_

"Do you actually think I'm going to believe that bullsh-!" his argument morphed into a surprised yell as the bed disappeared underneath them replaced by a short drop and a loud thud which held the quiet hostage for a second before Revy's moans of pain took over. He'd landed on top of her. **_Hard_**.

"Fuck! Ow!" she moaned when the sudden stop of hitting the tiles stopped them, "Fucking fuck, shit," she exclaimed, sobbingly grunting a few times as she futilely slapped and pushed at him to get off her. Which he did, just as the guilt of what happened registered fully in his head. That guilt was amplified tenfold since he was just thinking that Revy was faking her hurt because really- _how painful can a fall from such a low height be?_ Then again he wasn't the one under his own weight. But it was much worse than that as he discovered as soon as he tried to get up.

In her struggles, Revy tried to push him off her by twisting her torso and by using one of her legs firmly planted on the bed as leverage but that backfired just as Rock rolled again just as she pushed. Determined to hold on to her, in case she tried to shoot him, Rock tucks his elbows under hers mimicking his knees which were under her legs with him squarely in between them. The force Revy used to heave him off her had worked, only in the chaos of their fall, one of his elbows landed dead center into her stomach.

Quickly, Rock jumped off her, releasing her hands and getting to his feet, immediately switching on the lights by the door. Mentally, he counted down the seconds until the next attack that was certain to come, would get up off the floor and run at him. During this time, his mind stayed fixated on the source for his paranoia which was simple- _She was up to something_. Not sure what that **_something_ **was but...something! She was up to something. Why else would she be on top of him with a gun-(though he didn't find _said_ gun in her hands while he had hers captured in his) in darkness? And as the lights revealed none of her weapons were near her either where they fell.

Nothing happened.

In fact, when the lights illuminated Revy's prone form- curled up naked in the fetal position, she had one of her hands reactively wrapped over her stomach and her head was tucked between her knees. He watched as she tried to get up and failed. Rock didn't think, he just reacted. Rushing to kneel beside her, he scoops her into his arms- studiously ignoring her weak protests to let her go. Maybe it was his guilt for causing her harm that disarmed him from the stranglehold of his paranoia which had wrapped around his mind or the insistent feelings he wasn't supposed to have that makes him obsequious regarding her welfare.

 _Or maybe I'm an idiot._

But whatever it was, it didn't matter, Rock decided as he sat on the bed feeling dazed, back against the wall with the pillow cushioning the sting from his bruise. Which made him wonder;

 _What the hell is wrong with me?_

She's a bully with psycho tendencies. If he'd met her ten years ago or even five years ago, he would have done everything in his power to stay the hell away from her. What's changed since then? What's made him so brave to grow enough temerity to wrap someone like her between his arms like he was right now? Essentially, an assassin was seated in his lap, naked, while he soothingly rubbed her back up and down with one palm, while the other hand alternated between rubbing her exposed upper arm and squeezing it gently, hissing soft bursts of "shh, shh, shh" between his teeth. Rokuro,' the coward' as he was called by his school mates among other colorful adjectives, 'the guy who never fights back', the man who hated violence and all it's many faces' was tucking a murder's head against his chest while he rested his chin on the top of her head, kissing her hairline a few times as a silent apology for hurting her? He suppressed a snort as he absently wondered what his bully school mates would make of that. Hells, he wasn't completely sure what to make of it. Today must be a day for novelty. Surprising still, was how acquiescent Revy was being as he did these things.

 _Must be the pain._ That must have already subsided by now.

He had questions, of course. Questions that needed urgent answers which he listed in his mind as he continues to soothe her;

 _What the hell am I doing? Why in the name of God, would you wake me up like that, naked and on top of me?_

He thought of an absolutely absurd answer for that question that nearly endangered him of laughing out loud in this very uncomedic situation, it was so ridiculous. He rejected it immediately because there was just no way **_that_ **would happen, not even in his wildest dreams. He couldn't picture Revy, as sexy as she was and beautiful, if she ever stopped wearing that scowl and learned how to smile genuinely, as a seductress. Her pride was too high for that role.

 _Like I said, absurd_.

On with the mental inquiry.

 _Do you have_ ** _any_** _idea how very thin my control is considering that it's been a very, **very** long time since I've had sex and that was before you broke in and stirred me up? What do you want from me, Revy? What is wrong with you?_

His boxers felt uncomfortable on his waist but he'd have to endure that until he could haul them up to his ass.

 _If you're not going to be with me then why do all of this shit? How about just leaving if you weren't going to kill me then and forgetting any of this ever happened?_

Yeah, he had questions.

From their vantage point, his eyes had a spectacular view of her sun-kissed breasts. Watching their rhythmic up and down motion with wrapped interest had the effect of heating his blood. In his defense, he was caught off guard, disoriented and not to mention rudely awaken so his manners were delayed as his brain couldn't register anything other than 'last chance to look your fill' and she wasn't looking at him to see where his eyes were locked on to anyway. For a long silent moment, he admired her feminine attributes which offset the worst of his anger and kept his guilt for elbowing her in the gut at bay. Tits can do that to a man. Nice tits are even more problematic and Revy's are better than _just_ nice.

 _So fucking hypnotic._ He thought, wanting to suck them again, to have his way inside this woman in his arms until they both only had the strength to breathe. Yes. He'd boldly declared how much he no longer wanted her and had managed to fall asleep after forcing his mind into focusing on nothing else but sleeping. It wasn't easy but he has **_his_ **pride too.

Still...

Why is she behaving so well? It was as if...as if...,

Rock bit back a curse. _She's challenging me knowing full well that she doesn't want me!_ His pissed off thought made him inhale a deep breath before setting her off him. The fact that he didn't fling her off him was a testament to his manners and his reasoning returning. What woman willingly sits on a man's lap, naked no less, and not expect that he wouldn't make a pass at her? Rock could read signs and she was asking, no, pushing him to start something when she didn't want anything to do with him.

"Stop toying with me, Revy," Rock said angrily. He swang his legs over the edge of the bed then bowed his head over his knees and he scrubbed his hands over his face; stretching it as far as it would go for a second while exhaling a long breath. About to explode into yells of frustration and anger

"What are you talking about?" She asked feinting ignorance. That pissed Rock off even further. The verbal rant he sensed before returning with his unbridled emotions.

He rounded on her, twisting the sheets under him, eyes piercing into hers, "Since you can't be honest with yourself, let me be frank," Rock voiced earnestly, tension rolling off him like a tide, " If your objective is not for us to **fuck** then put your clothes on and leave."

"Excuse me?" Revy asked softly, dangerously. Their eyes never wavering from one another.

"You heard me," Rock said defiantly, rising to his feet and walking a little distance from her, nowhere in particular, just away from Revy. "I'm used to being unwanted, I know what the signs look like, ok! So quit challenging me! Quit experimenting with my self-control. I have my pride, its true and a healthy sense of right and wrong but I'm not interested in being your toy to play with until I break. I won't let you turn me into something that meets your fucked up mental expectations, so go home!"

"That's the third time today you've dismissed me, no forth time" Revy corrected herself after a thought. He didn't miss the subtle stretch of her right hand towards his pillow. "Like some common two-dollar dockside whore," the look in her eyes told him more than her words did but it also infuriated him.

"Goddamn it Revy, I'm a man!" He said explosively, " and you're not helpless little Rebecca Lee any longer who doesn't know what the world is like."

"I don't need you to tell me that." She bristled, jumping off the bed and storming up to him, violence in her eyes and he fought to keep his eyes in hers. Distracted with her bouncing tits and all but he was angry, way too angry

"No? Then why are we having this conversation?!" Rock shot back looking down at the shorter woman, "You don't want me, I get it," Rock said acknowledging the rejection. It stung like all rejections did but it would go away, fade into his memory. You can't do anything about burnt ashes. "Yet you wake me up naked and on top of me when you have no intention of following through? You parade around me so comfortably in nothing, showing me everything that _you know I want_ from you though you're not willing to give it me? I don't make a habit of talking to naked women I don't intend to bed. I'm not dead and I'm a fucking fool so don't try to make one of me! And since it's been a _long_ **_fucking_ **time since I've last had a woman, make no fucking mistake, the ice is thin, Revy!" He sneered the words out at her. "And my resistance is cracking, especially with these games you play! So tell me! Answer me this, what else can I do but dismiss you if I'm not going to force you to my bed?" He finished almost in a growl.

She said nothing, just regarded him silently and he had no idea what she was thinking. He didn't care as long as she leaves. He passed her, bumping his shoulder into hers on his way to his side of the bed to sit on the edge of it. He adjusted the waistband of his boxers before he sat down again after feeling the deep V of his pelvis and noticing the patch of black hair peeping out over wrinkled bounder. Revy's clothes were laid out opposite his side, her little shorts and her tank top, panties. Why couldn't she had just put them on and leave? The embarrassment of what he just revealed to Revy about being celibate for a long time was creeping into him and Rock felt like he wanted to disappear into the ground. What man does that by choice? At least he didn't blabber about just how long since he'd last fucked. Rock turned his head away, back to the wall channel. The mixture of emotions churning in his gut made Rock feel like he was floating in a red soup of anger and shame and pent up frustration all in one big pathetic pot.

After what felt like hours, he heard footsteps as Revy silently approached his side of the bed. Rock took a deep breath.

 _What now?_ He wondered stoically resigned and bracing himself.

He would have preferred to hear the door slam but then he felt the bed dip behind him. Rock continued to turn his head away. Other movements followed, more dips in the bed; closer, closer. He refused to look at her, his lips thinned with his frustration. Then he felt her hand touch the center of his back, tentatively at first as if testing a surface and a strong urge to get up and away from her burned in him and he was about to when he felt the sensual touch of her nipples pressing up against the skin of his back and anchoring his ass to the bed. Rock grew very still, barely even breathing as her breasts followed suit. There was a sting of pain from his bruise where her breasts were rubbing against it but that only added to the sweet concoction she brewed just by touching him like this.

Starving without knowing that he was, for a touch like this.

Without his permission, a sigh of pleasure betrayed him. _That feels so good_. Rock had to close his eyes, his teeth biting into his bottom lip, refusing to say anything out loud. Then Revy dipped her head and started kissing the junction at his neck, slowly, sweetly even then she started sucking on the pale skin there, hard! A red mark was sure to form there, a hickey to remind him of this act for days to come. Rock tilted his head unconsciously giving her more access, unable to resist making a rumbling sound in his throat. Feeling her insistent sexy lips doing this to him, Rock couldn't help imagining her sucking other parts of his body,

 _My tongue, my finger, my cock._

He could almost feel her soft sweet lips around his cock head, sucking so insistently as she was now on his neck, the tip of her tongue working the slit. The pink crown disappearing between her lips, traveling over her tongue as she took him into her mouth. Not many women were agreeable to that and he would never presume to ask Revy or anyone for that but just the thought and his nails found the mattress, biting into it as a surge of pleasure rippled through him, setting his blood aflame. The wave contorted his face in a mask and Rock cry out in a whisper,

"Revy, " he groaned in helplessly even as curious anger shifted something inside him and a small warning went off in his mind. Though he wanted to ignore it, though he wanted to melt into this, he couldn't. Not with such a fresh memory of her backing out before in his head, not after she'd piqued his interest to point of mindlessness only to leave him battered and bruised with blue balls.

He took a deep controlling breath that shuddered out through his nostrils. In one quick motion, Rock reached for her, pulling her around into his lap, spreading her smooth thighs open over him. Revy gasped, surprised at the sudden change in position, her breaths warm on his chin.

"Look at me," He tried to make his tone sound grave but it came out sounding more like a man under the crushing weight of defeat. Regardless, he needed to find the answers to the questions in his head in her eyes. Is this pity? Or another play? Another pretense?

So help them both God if that is the case!

Whether it was out of stubbornness to do as he asked or shyness- the latter was as impossible to believe in Rock's mind as God was real to Revy-he had to crook a finger under her chin, to raise her face to look into her eyes unknowingly holding his breath until he had to feed oxygen to his brain.

"What?" Revy whispered, she wasn't wearing her customary scowl instead what he saw was the desire of a woman investing herself in this moment with him. Rock swallowed hard. How he's needed that look from someone for so long and though he burned to empty himself inside her, spending everything in a moment of hot sex, he vowed right here and now, that he wouldn't cheapen this between them. In answer to her question, Rock covered her lips, kissing her with a passion he'd thought long deaden inside him. After all the betrayals, one in particular that had set him on his long celibate path, he'd let Revy have this side of him as their tongues duel it out while he pulled them up further on the bed. Once he settled in the center of the bed, his hands found her ass and squeeze as he ground his increasing size against her core slow and hard which produced a moan in his mouth from Revy. There was a growing slippery heat on the cotton his boxers as she grew wet for him compounding his decision.

"Fuck," She breathed in between kisses quivering in his arms.

"I intend to," He quipped making his intentions clear, no backing out this time. That earned him a sexy grin. "Come here," Rock commanded, his breath mingling with hers as he pulled her down with him. He kept her on top as his head found a pillow to rest on while he admired the tantalizing view of Revy's breasts dangling inches from his mouth. Using one of his hands, he reached up then nip one impudent nipple with his teeth before sucking it outright.

He groaned and she shook over him, mew sounds escaping her open mouth as she rocks her hips over him uncontrollable.

Breathlessly, she told him, "Suck, that's it. Ah! Yes! hmmm!"

Giving her no quarter, he reached one finger under her ass to slip it inside her already slippery core and she jerked in his grasp as he prodded her channel in and out, before increasing the number of digits to two. Rock turned his attention the other nipple and was rewarded with bucking hips undulating slowly around his touch.

"Jeee-sus Christ", He drawled out shakily, releasing his hold on her breasts to rest his face in their valley, breathing hard as he fought down the urge to not replace his fingers with his cock. While it would feel like heaven to cool his aching shaft inside her trembling little hole, Rock knew he could tear her if he wasn't careful with his size and if he allows his impatience to persuade him. Yet he found himself fitfully dragging his boxers off with one hand, planting his heels firmly on the bed as he lifted his hips while balancing on one elbow with Revy's weight on top of him before successfully kicking them off; uncaring were they landed

"Don't want anything between us," Rock explained breathlessly when he emerged from between her breasts to resume their furious kissing match. He stopped himself from halfway to her sweet lips when he caught a glimpse of worry as he searched her eyes. He didn't want to stand on ceremony like the last time but he had to reassure her.

"It's hot and throbbing," She said in a small voice sounding a little scared but trying to be brave. His cock had sprung free, happy to be released from its cotton prison and now it rested against Revy's thigh, waiting hungrily in anticipation.

"Yeah," Rock whispered back nodding understandingly, "I'm very excited, " Propping up on one elbow, he completed his journey to her lip, whispering against her mouth as he began the kiss, "but it doesn't bite, I promise."

She jerked back her head, brows furrowing. "How do you know? You can't guarantee anything,"

Rock pursed his lips, eyebrows arched before smiling coquettishly at her, "it's never bitten my hand before,"

That did it!

Revy snorted before laughter took over her expression, it touched her brown eyes and Rock couldn't contain himself any longer, he kissed her smiling lips, wrapping her in his arms; her breasts to his chest, helplessly enthralled with this broken woman. Fitting, since he, himself, was also a broken man.

They were both panting by the time the kiss end. They'd switched positions with Rock now on top and Revy looking up at him. He couldn't help subtly thrusting his hips against her, needing this, wanting this so much from her. He was ready. Damnit, he was too ready!

He nibbed at her jawline, "do you want the lights off?"

"No," Revy answer still breathless from their intense kisses.

"Good," Rock whispered, patroling one of her earlobes with the tip his tongue and making her shiver under him,

"Jesus, fuck, what you can do with your tongue," Revy exclaims sounding awed as reached for his asscheeks and squeezed them, sending his hips into a frantic buck against her folds, his heart rate escalating along with his body heat. Damnit, he was going cum like this.

"Revy," Rock voice was hoarse and ragged in his own ears. He sat up on folded legs, opening her legs more to accept him before dragging down her toward him, aligning their bodies as he crouched over her again. A measure of fear flashed over her eyes as she glances between him and his equipment hovering and pulsating just inches from her entrance. The head red and swollen. Rock watched as she swallowed and took a breath to steel herself. He bit his bottom lip, unsure if what he was about to do would be wise in getting him what he believes they both wanted but...

"Darling," Rock began soothingly, reaching for her hand with one of his and giving it a little squeeze, pulling her attention to his face when her eyes lingered between them for too long and not with lust but trepidation, he pulled her hand towards them until her fingers were wrapped around his shaft lightly. Revy gave him a confused look.

"Rock, what are you?" She began stroking him, maybe thinking that's he wanted. Rock had stayed her hand before he spilled his seed and embarrass himself.

 _This might be harder than I thought._

"You're in charge, Beck," Rock struggled against the blinding urge thrust and cum in her soft palm. Beating it back with sheer will power wasn't easy. Not when he wanted nothing more than to breach her core and push until he was buried snug deep in her slick glove. He desperately tried to ignore that thought without little success. His breaths became shallowed as he fought an internal battle, the outcome in doubt as urges assaulted him.

"What?" Revy asked still confused.

"Put me inside you," Rock said in a strained whisper. He refused to look away from her eyes. The icy breeze from the ac kissing the sweat on his back, his arms shaking as Revy held him gently in her grasp,

" This time you're behind the wheel."


End file.
